The Other Side of the Looking Glass

I’m back from a ten-day stint overseas and I’m popping in here, not because I have anything profound to say, but because I’m awake now, and wanting to slip back into familiar routines.

Two quick observations:

Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.  I missed my kids while I was in South America.  And it turns out that I needed to miss them.  It’s helpful to be reminded of how much space they take up in my heart because I can forget when the middle school gets thick around here.  For the time being, I’m seeing them with fresh eyes, and it feels good.

Writing while traveling, even if it’s just keeping a journal, can inject fresh life into a stale routine.  I was worried that being without my laptop for ten days would cause me to lose momentum on the writing project I was working on before I left.  I’d bought a little sea-blue journal and had made myself a promise to record observations and events while I was in Paraguay, but I still felt like I’d be taking a hit when I got home.  I didn’t.  As it happened, I was able to jump right back into my project–with new perspective.  Hopefully I can use some of what I jotted down while I was away sometime, too.

All in all, it’s good to be home.  I love to travel, to speak with different vocabularies, to memorize other hearts.  But at the end of the day, I love the familiar, too.  Here’s to slipping through the looking glass, and to popping back out again.