4-29-2014
When we landed in San Francisco we felt awesome. Back in the US! Boy did it feel good to be home. We walked around the city, drinking in the sights and sounds. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed getting ice-cream at the wharf, eating crab chowder in a sourdough bread bowl for lunch at a place along the boardwalk, and walking through the major shopping centers and china town. I even enjoyed the metro, with all it's squealing and scraping noises. It felt good to be in an American city. Too soon it got dark and we headed back to the airport to board the next plane. 10:45 take-off time, 6:30 landing.
Only when we got back to Michigan did I feel strange. This is my home. I know all the ins and outs of Michigan and yet I feel like I'm in a foreign country. It's weird to walk up to the driver's-side door of a car and get in the passenger's seat. It's weird that everything is so cheap. It's like there's a big sale everywhere for no apparent reason. But what really throws me off is not understanding what people say when they talk to me! I never noticed before how much Michiganders slur their words!
I'm quickly getting used to it. It's even starting to feel normal to drive in the right lane again. And it sure is nice to go to the grocery store and know what I can find and where to find it. Even so, life still doesn't feel back to normal. The odd moments are dwindling, but I still don't feel like I'm home.
