back home...

...not quite sure where to begin. I have so many thoughts rumbling around in this head of mine.

i guess that's what happens when you step back from the insanity of your "normal" life and get some space to think, and dream, and wonder, and see life in a different place...and you (or I, anyway) realize how weird and abnormal your "normal" actually is.

i spent the past week in quite and beautiful places.
i fell asleep without earplugs.
i heard crickets at night.
i woke up to birds singing.
i sat in lovely gardens.
i hiked.
i laughed.
i saw a very different way to live and work cross-culturally.
i soaked in beauty and nature
trees.
and lots of flowers.
mountains.
i had great conversation with great friends.

i felt my heart slowly unwind.
from the coil it has become deep in my chest these past few months.
unwind.
relaxing.
resting.
breathing deeply.
closing the door in my mind of all the loss and grieving from the past few months.
and resting.

what a gift. what a gift.