Traveling is relaxing, educational, absolutely fantastic but returning home can turn into a multi week readjustment period. Our recent journey home was very much a rude awakening to reality beginning with the fact that we first flied from London to Frankfurt, Germany where we had to spend the night. Luckily there was a hotel attached to the airport. Not so luckily our home for the night was a very long walk in an almost empty airport where everything was closed at a time when we had not had anything to eat for at least nine hours. What might have been convenient and not so bad under other circumstances became a long walk followed by a growling stomach. 

Of course this is undoubtedly a first world problem so I don’t want to complain too much. Perhaps the biggest difficulty was that my knees do not work so well without pauses from walking here and there, but in this particular situation there was no place to sit along the way so I had to push through until we finally made it to the inn. 

The hotel itself was incredibly nice but the key card that we received was just another annoyance that blocked our ability to fall into bed in response to the way we were feeling. Soon enough a very kind soul who worked in the place had us inside where we saw that the room was exceptionally nice and the huge bed beckoned. Still, we both knew that we needed some sustenance so I headed out like a gatherer of old in search of any kind of food that might be available. 

I finally found a little store inside the hotel that had some sandwiches, chips and drinks that were far more tempting than they might otherwise have been. I felt as though I had made a great discovery in finding something to fill our tummies. Suddenly I believed that everything was going to go well at last. While the food was nothing to brag about it did its job and we were soon sound asleep.

Early the next morning we retraced our steps back to the airport. With rest it felt like a much easier trek than it had the night before. With no problems at all we were soon sitting at the gate where our final leg of the journey would begin. We munched on some coffee and baked goods feeling more than ready to get the trip going. 

Once again we had Premium Economy seats and they were as comfortable they had been on the way over to London. The food was excellent and everything went without a wrinkle. After many hours we were landing back in Houston, unaware that we would be greeted by hot weather. We had become so accustomed to cool days that it felt out of sync to be in a place that still had temperatures in the nineties but everything else about being home again was oh so pleasant. 

I began washing clothes almost immediately because I would be teaching my homeschooled students the following morning and I was out of everything that I would need to be presentable. I also knew that my father-in-law would be returning as well. What it did not know is that he would bring two weeks worth of his own laundry because he had not understood how to get it done in the place where he had enjoyed respite care. 

Somehow we had our usual craving of Tex-Mex that seems to be the first thing we want to eat when returning from out of the state. After a quick meal we visited the grocery store to stock up with essentials like milk and bread, fruit and vegetables. Then we realized that we were exhausted as jet lag took over our bodies. 

I must have spent the next five days washing and folding clothes. I’m surprised that my ten year old washing machine kept working with precision. Somehow I found the energy to keep working until we were no longer in a state of chaos which was fortunate because we were scheduled to attend a high school reunion event for my husband. 

A point came when I felt as though I was moving on autopilot. I had no idea where I found the energy but I made it through the first week before I crashed. It was only then that I took care of myself and found the time to recall how wonderful our trip had been and how fortunate we were to be able to travel. Now that a few weeks have passed I have no doubt that given the opportunity I would do it all over again.