Leaving Minnesota

On 15 December I left Arizona, bound for home in Hastings MN and arrived some 30 hours and 22 minutes later.

It is now almost February, and I will be leaving on Wednesday after being home for nearly 6 weeks. And you know what? It just wasn't long enough. I had a great amount of fun, and more importantly, I got to spend a lot of time with my family. Orion and I...for those of you just tuning in, Orion is my adorable black Chow Chow who will be figuring in frequently in my adventures and thoughts. Anyway, Orion and I have been home with my parents, Tammy and Bill, and little brother Skyler, and their goldendoodle Rufus. Most people, I'm sure, would find that spending time with their family in this concentrated of a way to be just too much but...well, not me. Not my family. We had a great time and my cousin Stuart and I played many a game with the rest of our family of Settler's of Catan and others...I am sad to go. It has been probably since I was in high school that I actually spent this much time with my family, I mean like this, where I actually am spending time with them and not running everywhere all the time. It is different now, I'm older, they are older...and we're all much more comfortable in our own skins.

Most of you probably know that one of the constants in my little world is a feeling of singularity. Not often in a bad way, not always in a good, but just often I have an overwhelming sense of being just a shade different, just a shade off-color....just a bit that I don't fit in anywhere even though I an pretty sure I am good at pretending I always feel comfortable and people usually assume that my contentment is that comfort. When I am with my family it is entirely different. There are people who get my jokes, there are people who understand and enjoy that my tastes run the visible and invisible spectrum, and everything besides. I like that my feet are much more on the ground, and now for the first time in years I feel like I am myself again.

I'll be going home now, with this sturdy footing. I don't know what is going to happen, I don't know what is next, but I do know that I feel good and I am optimistic. It's nice to have hope again that something interesting will be coming along again and that it's not all over now.