Being Home

I didn’t really think about how I would feel or what may have changed when I returned home.  Two months away to some may not seem long and to others like myself, it was like living a new life.

While I was away, someone close to me called me selfish and proclaimed “all you care about is elephants”. This person was right, this was my dream, a gift by my grandfather.

I talked to others who were backpacking their way through Asia and the disconnect you have to those who are home.  We want them to be excited to talk to us, hear about what we are doing, and forget to think about what is going on anywhere else.

I recently read another blog by a woman who also has just returned home from a trip and the reactions given by her friends and family.  She was surprised by the lack of questions about where she had been and what she had seen.

My response was quite different, many of my friends came to visit the day after I returned and I received texts and Facebook messages welcoming me home.

I was ready though to talk for hours about the elephants, the food and people I met along the way.  Not everyone shares in this enthusiasm.

This morning, as I write this, and look out the window to the leaves of autumn, I’m happy and melancholy.

Many changes have happened in two months, and I am not the same person who sat in this chair and planned the journey. My eyes have seen too much and my tears have dropped around the world.

In me is an eagerness, an independence that will only grow the longer I travel, the more I seek to see the world, and yes the elephants.