Return

Travel… many write about their journeys to far flung places but what about the return?  How does one re-enter gracefully after days from home and hours in transit?  Last night I returned from a week in Alaska on the heels of a three-week trip to Ireland and tried to get my bearings.

RETURN

When I  opened the door

It was like revisiting a book I had set aside

Trying to remember the plot and the main character,

Myself, and my part in the story

Everything familiar

Yet strange

Piles of unopened mail, weeds in the garden

A routine obscured by recent memories

How do I continue in my role?

Do I rewrite my destiny or carry on as it was written?

I lay down on the couch exhausted,

Wrapping my arms around the soft, safe fur of my dog

And slept.