Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Home Sweet Home

The best thing about traveling is coming home.  That is what my mother used to tell me, and as I get older I realize how true that is.  Don't get me wrong, I love traveling the world.  When I was 19, I spent a year abroad living in England and Australia.  Since then, I trotted around Asia and Europe truly believing that a vacation had to be longer than a month in order to count as an 'experience'.  I ridiculed those who traveled for only two weeks.  Now I can't wait to get home.

New York was oh so fun.  We laughed, we drank, we shopped for shoes.  It was a bittersweet moment watching the isle of Manhattan disappear from the rear window of the taxi.  The Empire State Building standing tall and proud. The Chrysler Building looking so darn pretty.  I love how the two went up at the same time in a competition to be New York's largest skyscraper.  But I digress.  As I let the warm breeze ruffle my hair, I turned back to the front with a smile on my face:  I was going home.

After a horrific and squished flight home, in which my legs became numb and the girl in the aisle seat polluted the air with her foul farts,  I was happy to arrive back on the Pacific coast.  I forced my eyes open to look at the sparkling lights of rainy city.  Ummm, there were none!  Rainy city is a teeny tiny village compared to New York!  That is okay, the near full moon looked lovely reflected in the ocean as we started our decent.  Nature is where it is at.  Nature and seeing the moon reflected in the sea.  Wow, I had no idea how freaking small this city is.

Stepping into the fresh air, K and I took in the cedar and pine scent, relishing in the beauty of the west coast.  Our cab ride downtown took hardly any time at all.  There was no traffic, no beeping horns, no pedestrians jaywalking.  Neighborhoods full of actual houses (there are no houses in Manhattan) were deep in slumber.  And as we crossed the bridge, we both turned to take in the sight of the glittering city of glass.  Except there was no glitter, a couple of lights dotted around, but no glitter. Oh god, are we really that small town?  Has the rainy city always been this quiet?  Yes.

Then there was my bed.  My soft, cushy, cloud of a bed. Heaven!  And the Engineer sleeping in it waiting for my return.  Before I crawled in next to him, I stared out my window to the mountains and smiled to myself.  The Big Apple may be the city that never sleeps but I was really happy to take a nap.

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