Back in the USA

We are back. We are here. We are probably not so far from you, or at least we no longer have an ocean between us. If there is an ocean between us now, you have seen us more recently than have many others.

Our dialog is non-stop, the stories are endless, yet the words we use to describe our journey are inadequate. Insufficient. Paltry without the smells and the tastes and the pulsing sense of the experience. 

I want to say, "Listen, I'll tell you this story about India. But first you need to develop a queasy 'travelers stomach' and sear your tongue with scalding chai and be coated with dirt from walking in the streets and spend a few moments of your morning exchanging pleasantries with the cow draped in jasmine flowers that contentedly awaits affection from her stolid stance in the middle of the street."

But we try to articulate our adventures, knowing that our words could never fully express our experiences. Yet still we try, it's a human condition. We try to define and label to better our communications and connections. We are social creatures, it's an 'evolved species' thing.

People ask us how the transition back to the United States is going. Others, especially those who have completed extensive travel themselves, ask whether we are experiencing 'culture shock.' The truth is that for now, our journey has not ended. We are still on the move, still in motion, still experiencing and exchanging and learning. There are pockets (albeit slightly smaller) of the Bronx or of Beverly that are unfamiliar, just as there were pockets of strangeness in Behai or Nis or El Jadida. No matter where you are, new sights and experiences exist, travel just amplifies your receptivity and awareness. With an accommodating mindset, a walk through the town that you have lived in for an entire lifetime can be just as enthralling as an African safari.

The biggest difference now is that we are surrounded by familiar faces. Family and friends are near and just as anxious to see us as we are them. Although the beauty of a New England autumn is quickly approaching, the geography cannot captivate me in the way that the voice and smile of a loved one can. If ever I was homesick on our journey, it was for people, never for things (I am lying, I once was in tears thinking of the joys of a 'western toilet').

There really is 'no place like home' when home means family.

Hope to see you soon.

xoxo