I’m typing this from the familiarity of my home. After a long (but no so long compared to past travel horror stories…) travel day, we finally touched down in good ol’ Tally. There is something so comforting about arriving back at home. Especially when you’re going to be taking some time to process the week you’ve just experienced. I’m looking forward to taking some time tomorrow and curling up on my couch under a blanket (It’s fall time, blanket weather!! Quite a contrast from Nica weather) with a cup of coffee and my journal and just verbally “throwing up” all over the page. Sorry for the unpleasant comparison, but it’s the best I could come up with.
So now comes the fun part about a mission trip. Assimilating back into “normal life” and trying to figure out how to take all the things I learned/saw/experienced/felt and pull it all into that life. What’s going to change? How will my attitude be different? Will it be different? People always comment that it must be so hard to adjust to the culture of a new country. True, but I find it even harder to adjust back to U.S. culture after such a week.
There’s also the hard part of answering the question: “So how was Nicaragua?” Some of those people will want to sit down and hear the stories and look through the hundreds of pictures. Others will simply want a short, 15 second or less answer. It’s hard to know how to respond. “It was really good” just doesn’t seem to sum it up.
I’ll tackle all that stuff tomorrow after a good night’s sleep. For now I’ll try to start thinking in English again (at the Atlanta airport today, I instinctively responded, “Gracias!” when the waitress brought my lunch), and be extremely thankful for the home that Drew and I share. I am blessed.
G’nite… I’m off to say hello to my bed.
Welcome back home! I pray that God gives you the grace for a pleasant and quick transition. We’ll listen to the stories and watch the slides. Just let us know when you are ready.
Blessings on your return.
Cathy