(home)

I mentioned in passing just how wonderful it is to be home, but I don't think I gushed. So I'll gush now. The first week passed in a blur, just getting home and decompressing, unpacking, re-uniting with family and friends, and then the event - my man came on home. Ohhh the joy. The simple Joy of: the special welcome dinner and oh-so-delicious cake; homemade strawberry ice cream; shopping en familia at Target (totally not our M.O.); puttering and doing lawn work and regular home stuff; watching Ethan walk around the house, just the joy of laying my eyes on him here, in our home; listening to the children sqeal as they played with papa and just knowing we were all here, together.
This past Monday, I was in the kitchen listening to NPR and cooking our favorite turkey burger and homemade french fries dinner, the children were playing and Frida was here with us, it was a bit past five pm, the phone rang and it was Ethan saying "I'm on my way home honey, could you make me a cup of coffee?" and there may as well have been choirs of angels singing Amazing Grace. I was in absolute heaven, pure bliss, at this, this totally pedestrian, mundane moment that is a regular moment in my life. It was our first regular back to work day, and the perfection of my life, with it's normalcy and every-regular-ness, struck me as sacred. I realize our blessings and our gifts and while I didn't think I needed the 40 day/7000 mile trek to bring that to my consciousness, it sure did kick it in.