#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

Some scenes from our early ride to the airport. Up early, Frank, Franci, Will and I depart for snowy regions north. Frank drives the rental car on the scenic route along the coast. No traffic. Easy arrival. Easy flight, fast through customs, then the snowy ride home from Logan, and then the happy greeting of Wave who is so glad to see us. We have brought food and he heartily eats with us on the table where my dear friend has left a vase of flowers for me to welcome me home. Charlie and Brittany are glad too. Sleet and snow, sleet and snow. Wave and I play dinosaurs and he doesn’t want to stop, of course. We have to negotiate. He bids high, we bid low and meet in the middle of extra minutes. Now he rests between us in our bed as we try to get him to be sleepy. He would rather be up exercising and demonstrating to me how fast he can run. There is tomorrow for all that and more. On the plane, after a brief nap, I worked out a new poem. A poem I had in mind to write, but it was only a memory I planned to flesh out. And then the magic happened, where the poem didn’t go where I thought it might go. So, it took me into surprise, as it should. I was glad to get it fleshed out, even though it will need work. I wanted the day to settle in and play with Wave tomorrow. We said goodbye to our favorite beach in the world. We said goodbye to the heat and the sun and the pickle outdoors and our dear friends lounging around. And still, it’s very good to be home. Until next year, when we do it all again. Coming home through customs for the first time since the new leadership is a very disconcerting feeling. Difficult to describe. I am home, and I am not changed. But this is suddenly not the country of my lifetime.