How natural this feels. Old chair, old desk, old room, old life, old people (err, bad parallelism there).
I arrived back in Houston on a red-eye flight last Friday night and have had a great time since. Everything is more familiar than I thought it would be. I’ve only been gone for 9 weeks, but during those weeks, I’ve learned so much. My life has changed so much. I’ve had vastly more responsibility over my own life, without my old friends and family around, in a new location, with many times more academic work. Almost makes life here seem quaint.
But it’s nothing weird to be back. My room lacks a few items, but I instantly felt like I never left as soon as I walked down for my first breakfast when I got back. No shift.
Except for the bed. I love and now realize I have under-appreciated my double-size bed here at home. I roll back and forth a few extra times now.
It’s been great catching up with friends. I like to think I’m a nice person, but when I’ve met up with some of my best buddies from around here, I realize how punishing I am to them. I’ve cleaned up most of my blatant cynicism and excessive sarcasm, but around these guys, it all comes back. I guess I’m messed up like. The better I get to know someone, the nastier I get. Man love, right?
But it’s been enlightening. Some crazy, baffling stuff happens, with high school drama and the bizarre practices of public education. At the same time, some things are so familiar. It’s somewhat satisfying to hear an amazing story, and realize that I could have seen it happen. Watching some of my friends change over many years, and then removing myself from this world, it’s in some ways like I never left. Life is cyclical, especially in high school.
It’s been great being back, and there are still so many people to see. And everything is so easy to get back into. For so long, I’ve said that Toronto is my only home, but I think Houston is just as much home. Maybe Katy isn’t so exciting, but it feels right. I complain a lot about Katy, moreso now that I’ve seen that the world isn’t all the sleepy suburbs. Man love, right?
One reply on “Return of the Jet-lagged”
There will be a point in your adult life at which you’ve lived in one place longer than your childhood home. It’s a bit strange, but it really takes a long time.
I spent the first 18 years of my life in one town, and have now lived my current house for 20 years. I do get a lot more air miles than the average person, though.