Epilogue-1

May 14, 2002-Tying Loose Ends

We managed to sleep two hours the first night home. I was up at 1 AM and started cleaning and doing laundry. David attacked the mail. After all, our body clocks said that it was 7 AM. By afternoon, we were walking zombies. We allowed ourselves a two-hour nap. Our tally to that point was four hours sleep in forty-eight hours. We managed to sleep through the next night and were functional enough to tackle more chores today.

There are as many details to deal with in coming home as in going. The first order of business was convincing the phone company that we weren’t deadbeats. They’d discontinued our home phone service for non-payment of the bill since January. It was due to a glitch in their billing system and David was able to convince them we’re good for it. They had us up and ringing in a matter of hours. We also ordered a phone line activation for our computer modem. That was promised in two days time. Contrast that with the young Kenyan couple we met whose father has been waiting for a landline at his home for ten years.

Although it didn’t take us the 2 ½ hours for grocery shopping here that it took for our first trip to the supermarket in Australia, we did buy out the store. David got a bit rattled when he walked up to the deli counter and wanted to ask for 250 grams of sliced turkey. He quickly did a conversion to pounds and made himself understood.

David had removed the car battery when we left and even that worked out. The darn thing really started. I’ve truly enjoyed driving my own car again and am happy tooling around familiar streets even if it’s on an unfamiliar side of the road. Today David had a close encounter in the wrong lane with a Fed Ex truck.

Four of the nine parcels we shipped have arrived and we’ve not begun to unpack them. There are more important priorities right now. We made it through the maze of mobile phone “deals” and now are once more members of the world of modern wireless technology.

We had no stairs to climb for nine months and my legs responded to the several flights I had to tackle at home. I can’t count the number of times I was up and down just to do laundry and put things away. I was back on the treadmill this morning and my muscles have been awakened from their own long vacation. They’re not as happy to be home as I am and have begun their own protest.

We will go to Minneapolis to visit Wendy and meet her partner in a week. We’ll see the house where they’re living and meet all our new animals-in-law. They've been working like mad trying to finish some construction and remodeling on the house and I’m excited to see the results. I’ll also be interested to see all the “real” tools were brought to the relationship including the newly prized table saw and air compressor. Wendy's partner is a carpenter by trade and has taught Wendy a lot. It does give me pause to picture Wendy wielding power tools. Wendy is anxious for her partner to meet me so she’ll better understand Wendy’s need for order. As I have said in previous emails, some call it obsessive-compulsive behavior. We call it feng shui. Wendy’s voice is full of energy and excitement and love whenever we talk to her.

I found our house a bit drearier than I remembered it and am weighing options of re-decorating or removing ourselves to newer digs. We got used to living in a one-year old fresh and bright place that was easy to care for. This house seems cavernous. We can’t import the sunshine of the Gold Coast to Akron, but maybe we can brighten the décor.

Impressions

We’re home at last. We’ve returned to things familiar, the land of our birth, our nation. At times it feels as if we never left. But there are differences. On our first outing we noticed a proliferation of American flags flying from houses, decaled on cars, and glued to windows in stores. There are lawn signs that read, “I am proud to be an American.” Patriotism is alive and well in the U.S. of A. Our country has its pimples but the systems work most of the time. It’s a place where opportunities are endless and dreams still come true. We’re mostly a compassionate people and when we’re not, we quickly become ashamed of ourselves and try to make amends. We strive to make things better and when we fail or make them worse, we rationalize, cover up, protest our innocence then dig in and try again. We’re hated and reviled throughout the world by people and nations who verbally assault us and who would like to physically bury us. We are the laughing stock of the world and a model for the universe. We are the place where most third world people would give their lives to live. Some have done so.

We’re home at last. People will ask us to tell them what was our favorite place or what was the best experience we had. David and I seem to agree that Viet Nam was the most emotionally engaging and India was the most culturally intriguing. Australia offered an endless variety of beauty and uniqueness from Ayres Rock to the Great Barrier Reef to the Great Ocean Road and that little gem, Tasmania. It will take time to settle in here and to create a place for ourselves once again. The lives of the people we know went on without us for almost a year. We need to re-connect and re-integrate ourselves into their lives. We need to have them find a place for us in their lives. Our family is expanding and we anxiously await our introductions to Julie and to the new baby. This is the end. This is the beginning.

Toby