The morning is early here in Pasadena… and I am feeling the time change as well as the stress of moving into a new house and adjusting to "real" life again. Remember I said how relaxed I was in Africa? I wish there was some way to preserve that feeling… I guess it's peace I yearn for, peace even when there is conflict and change in my small life.

I had forgotten how much I appreciate the familiar. Being back at sam and jeanette's is that familiar for me, the feel of my own bed, getting up in the middle of the night and knowing where the toilet is in the dark, the haven of this room. Even at my parents, all was new, beautiful but new, and lacking the comfort of my feet knowing the path from room to room.

A million things line my mind to do today, go to the bank, pay some bills, get ice coffee, decide the future of my house, reconnect with friends, mail promised letters and photos to friends on the other side… make sure my boss remembers I was in Africa and not skipping work. Lord help me to slow down…

Rudy, we were having dinner with family friends at home and Joe didn't finish all the corn on the ends of his cob. I kept staring at those last kernels, waiting for him to finish perfectly good corn. He didn't, I teased him and then ate them myself. Nothing is wasted in Africa. Especially food.

This email is free and next to my bed… what a luxury. I probably spent more money on email in Africa than anything else…. And trying to arrange a car to go the miles into town was even more interesting.

My life is less certain than when I left… and I look forward to what is next. Maybe I'll look forward tomorrow instead of today, because today feels like enough… but sometimes you need to remember when the remembering is easy… when the patterns of life resume, I am afraid I will be less likely to dream big about what is possible. There is nothing like comfort to limit yourself ne?