Flew into Reno about 5 – all of my flights yesterday were at least 30 minutes early due to the absence of a strong headwind – makes me ponder parallels… & how it seems there are days when I’m living into a fearsome headwind, moving uphill, & that only the most minute forward progress is made… & also the converse, when the ‘Rückenwind’ (tailwind) is so strong that it’s like running downhill. It helps with perspective, knowing that there are times when its all I can do to keep standing up & not to fall, & not to get discouraged by it, but to learn to discern the times & the days.

Finally allowed myself to hit the sack at 8:25 – didn’t want to go to bed too early & thereby make the transition to PST & the real world that much harder. Slept until 8:45 a.m. Very nice. Yay. Now I’m just a little cloudy, & am drinking some good java (Dunkin’ Donuts, don’t you know?) & washing the clothes I took with me to Deutschland.

On that note, this time I packed just about perfectly – if I had it to do over again, I’d have left 4 shirts behind, brought 2 more pairs of socks & unmentionables, & 1 more pair of jeans. My packing for the trip home required that I leave a couple of things behind at Alex’s – including my LOTR book that I read whenever I go – but its ok. I was glad to be able to add it to Alex’s library. Part of it was bringing back gifts for Julia & for other friends – in the future I might need to dedicate 1 bag to ‘bring backs.’

My fantasy football team did well in my absence – really well gearing up for the playoffs. Hooray me.

I missed home, family, & friends quite a bit. It helped to be on a very specific task, & to know that I needed to & was supposed to be there, but there’s no place like home.

This trip also provided insight into my ‘pace of life’ – something that is always tested when I work, but esp. when I travel. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I’m doing fairly well at pacing myself, & walking at a speed that fits me, Sabbath, & good rest.

TheBean is an incredible woman. WIfe. Mother. Friend. Can hardly believe just how great. Sigh.
Ciao!