Nearly 20 hours of travel later, I’m back home in our SF loft. It feels small after the expansiveness of Juanjo’s parents house in Spain, and my ears are ringing from the plane as I get used to the noise of the city again. Cars honk outside the window, pulling in and out of the parking spots below our house, coming to the neighborhood for a last bit of weekend dinner with friends. This is what it’s like to live in a destination neighborhood! A far cry from the quiet of Olias del Rey (that’s the name of the town outside Toledo where Juanjo’s parents house is actually located). I love the city, enjoy living here now, and am glad to be home. But my roots are still more country-ish. I like waking up and watching the wind blow through trees outside my window, hearing the wind wind around the house, and listening to the pitter-patter of rain on the roof.
In keeping with my 1/2 marathon training schedule, the first thing I did when I got home was to go for a run. A short 2-miles, couple of loops around Mission-Dolores park. The day had obviously been clear, springy and warm here, and people were still lingering from picnics and lounging afternoons in the park. I felt tired, the smell of the plane still clinging to my skin, the static electricity from 32,000 feet high still making my hair stand on end. But the fresh spring wind was invigorating, clearing the foggy jet-lag feeling from my brain momentarily.
It’s good to be home, though “my better half” (as they say in India-really!) is still away a while longer. Soon he’ll be back too (and one year older, as of tomorrow!) and we can start biking again to complement the running and strengthen our legs around the knees–I haven’t biked at all since he left. For now, just the company of our resident cricket, which seems to have reproduced itself while I was gone and now there’s a whole family chirping under the sink. I don’t want to be a cricket-killer, but these guys are really going to keep me up at night!
Hooray – congrats on your 2 mile run, and welcome home!