Back home
It is overwhelming for me to be back home after time away.
Overwhelming in a good way, I mean. My favorite part of any trip is the first two hours back in the apartment: when I can drop my bags, kick off my shoes, and idly sort through mail or listen to a podcast and breathe in Seattle air. Sometimes I’ll light some cedar or make a cocktail. It feels good to belong again to your own space.
But then the work and the readjustment begins. I am a creature of habit, and it takes time to get myself back in a space where my habits thrive.
There is the household work: the taking out of trash and recycling (and, once I’m a better person, compost), culling the pantry and fridges, the unpacking and cleaning, the mopping and vacuuming, the grocery shopping.
There is the process work: the sifting through emails and bookmarks, the rebuilding of the calendar, the reprioritization of things, the reaching out to clients and managers, the sending of postcards and “Hey! Let’s get dinner!” texts.
And sure, all of this is busy work: none of it is so crucial it can’t be dissolved throughout the week, but I like to do it in the first day I’m back. It means I can shift back into a state where everything is ready and at something like an equilibrium: I am at my best when my world is a manicured existence.
We got back from Paris on Tuesday, and I did all of that on Tuesday, and then started working again on Wednesday. (My partner, because she is smarter than I am, took the day off.). It’s been harder than normal to get back in the swing of all of my extracurriculars: I haven’t done too much work on Buttondown, I haven’t been reading as much as I should, and most of my free time has been spent playing Golf Story.
Still, it’s been so good to be back. I’m coming down with a cold, which isn’t ideal, but it gives me an excuse to surround myself with blankets and rooibos. Wednesday was hot, but now autumn is emerging for real: we scored tickets to Elysian’s Pumpkin Beer Festival downtown, and the weather necessitated sweaters and vests. (Plus, we’re dogsitting this week. Mac is not very bright, but she is very small and sweet and earnest.)
I don’t mind the fading of travel’s afterglow, is what I’m getting at. It is nice to break from routine; but I have invested a lot of time and energy in my routines, and I love them very much.
Three things I really liked this week
- The paintings of Nikolai Roerich.
- A laptop with a keyboard wider than the laptop itself.
- A library of nests.
Happy Sunday
I hope you keep warm.