One Week From Today
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 4:21AM One week from today - we'll be home. Well, as close to home as exists for us. Our plane will land at LAX. After that? No idea. We have to re-create Home, just like we've been doing all year.
I'm looking forward to so many things about being back: my home schooling community, my church community, my beloved Book Club. Trader Joes, In-N-Out Burger, Mambo's in Glendale and Porto's in Burbank. The Old Zoo in Griffith Park, concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, trips to the Science Center and the Aquarium and the Natural History Museum. Los Angeles is such an awesome place!
I'm hoping to settle right back in with pals. I'm daydreaming of spur-of-the-moment barbecues with friends in the backyard, and Monday Night Pot Luck in the park. I'm also irrationally nervous. We've been gone for over a year. Will our friends be able to make space for us in their busy daily lives? I'm trying to manage my expectations.
We have a lot to do when we get back. We need to find a (cheap!) place to live, buy a couple of (cheap!) cars, unpack our little storage cube, and start filling in the gaps. We'll need (cheap) beds and tables and chairs and bookshelves. We're playing a game of sorts, where we furnish our entire place with a few hundred dollars from Craigs List and Freecycle and charity shops. The name of the game is to spend as little money as possible, and to put everything we can away for next summer, when we plan to take off again for a few months. Simplicity! Non-consumerism! I'm petrified!!
The hardest thing for our family will be missing Bob. By September he'll be back at work for 12 hours a day again, and while we're eternally grateful that someone in the family will soon be gainfully employed, we're still sad to share Dad.
So in a week everything changes. Again. Just like it has every few months for the last year. Bob and I have talked about how, as amazing as it sounds, we may be more stressed about the Coming Home than we were about the Going Away. So much has changed for us. I think we don't want to loose it.
We've been carrying a plaque around with us for the year, and we put it up when we move in somewhere new. It says some of what we've learned this year about as well as anything:
Bob & Brenna Redpath | 13 Comments | Email Article | Stumble, Digg, etc. | in Peru, essays | tagged Home, coming home after a year
Reader Comments (13)
I for one will miss reading about all of your adventures, all of your learning experiences and reading and feeling like I am right there with you, where ever you are. It was an awesome year!!!
We will be new friends all over again.
We only spent 6 months in Africa and we're still adjusting to life back in the states-and we've been here 2 months! Good luck with everything!
Welcome almost home! I can't wait to hear about your readjustment to home.
Brenna...send me an email. We just moved and have a bedroom set (Queen) that doesn't have a spot in the new place.
LMK if you're interested.
We landed back at LAX one month ago and it still feels surreal: "Did we ever go?" (we weren't even gone as long). Now we wonder, what next? Looking forward to following your continued adventure back home.
I guess it's OK for you guys to hang out with me.......
Congratulations on a great odyssey which still goes on.
There is space here at the monastery .. should you need it. (chanting optional)
My two younger monks each have a trundle bed, and the monastery separate (grown-up) quarters for visiting devotees as well... complete with Wi-Fi!
You will, of course, be required to profess your devotion to his holiness, Yo Lama, with a heartfelt "Gunga Gulunga" each and every morning. (or not .. Lama really doesn't care)
Peace, and safe journey to you ... chant if you need me.
GG,
...Lama...
I discovered your blog through almostfearless.com and spent all of yesterday reading through it and watching the videos (and giggling my head off). You are an amazing family and extraordinary people. Your stories and experiences we're simply a joy to read. Thank you for sharing them.
CAN'T WAIT TO LEAP FROG BOB IN THE WB HALLS. KEEP THE SITE GOING! THE FRIENDS YOU MADE ON YOUR TRIP CAN FOLLOW YOU IN THE U.S. AND I LOVE YOUR STORY TELLING. DON'T STOP!
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing adventure with your readers. I am sad that the lovely little stories will end, but so happy for all that you have learned and experienced as a family.
welcome home and don't stop writing! looking forward to reading about the readjustment period as well. you can do it!