Home Again, Home Again...

After a long, long, long trip home- leaving Kenya at 11:45p.m. Sunday (4:45p.m. EDT), I walked into my house at 2a.m. Tuesday morning, EDT (9a.m. Kenya time)...almost 36 hours later. Finally fell asleep about 4a.m. and was wakened by the phone at 8:30a.m. Impossible to get back to sleep so I'm pushing myself to stay awake for a while longer to begin to reset my biological clock.

Life has a way of never being simple, though, and as I sat in the Atlanta airport, checking my email, I learned that my dear uncle- actually more like a big brother since he was only 8 years my senior- had died yesterday morning, after a lengthy struggle with Parkinson's disease. I knew he had been slipping further and further away while I was gone, and my cousin- his elder daughter- kept me informed as, from the other side of the world, I surrounded John and his family with blessing and light and love daily. So, priority One...getting enough rest so that I can head north on Friday for the funeral on Saturday.

Reflection on my journey is presently impossible...brain is simply too tired. The best I can do is focus on my overwhelming thankfulness at being home...so here is a list of the biggest "thank yous":

• First and foremost, my own bed and pillow. Sigh...ah...wonderful.
• Water- safe, potable water coming from the tap. After drinking enough bottled water over the past 5 weeks to sail a small armada, drinking and brushing my teeth with water from the tap was a true gift.
• Driving my car- my own lovely little Honda Civic- in manageable High Point traffic.
• Shopping in a familiar grocery store where everything is clean and refrigerated and appetizing.
• The refrigerator in my small kitchen...with ice cubes and cold water and other tasty items.
• The dependable wifi in my own home.
• The hot water in my bathroom just waiting- at my beck and call- to provide me with a wonderful, cleansing shower any time I want it.
• My son here at home who made sure my plants were watered and who left the light burning in the living room for my return.

• My other son and daughter and daughter-in-law who have been sending me messages all during my trip, and have been holding me in their hearts as I traveled.

• And my wonderful, funny, loving, thoughtful, intelligent, caring uncle who so enriched my life and the lives of all who knew him for all of his 77 years- far too short in so many ways and yet so full and so filled with meaning.

And now it's time to try for a nap...phone off the hook...to begin resetting my body to North Carolina time...and later, to begin catching up on laundry and paying bills, etc. I'm back home...sort of...