Can you go home again?

Yes, I do realize that it's been over a month since I blogged.  I was stalling.  I wanted to have the return to Wisconsin and Minnesota behind me before I tried to dissect this question.  The process of catching up with so many dear family members and friends has left us all feeling completely overwhelmed.  I have lost track of all of the conversations, hugs and tears we have shared in the last month. 

Here's what I have learned, in no particular order. 

We came back too early.  There was an entire week wasted in Illinois in an absolutely beautiful campground due to the rain.  It rained. And then it rained some more. And then we hit Wisconsin in time for more rain.  On one of our last days in Minneapolis, the sun shone. And then it rained again.  I will never again return to the Midwest in what passes for Spring.  It's one thing if you have a house. It's an entirely different experience in an RV.  The sad thing is that I really like rain! ...just not this much of it in consecutive days.

We came back too early in terms of seeing our friends as well.  School is still in session, so the kids were really limited in terms of play dates.  Most everything had to be scheduled on a weekend, so those were jam-packed. 

We saw our old house and our old cat. Neither remembered us. They have moved on and created new memories in the year of our absence from their lives.  They are both healthy and were nice to see.  But they are definitively not ours anymore.  And that was just fine with me.  We have moved on too, as it turns out. 

As we traveled around our old stomping grounds, we could not shake the sense that we were supposed to be working.   The associations with having to be somewhere at a certain time are still very strong.  The roads we traveled for our jobs are still just as clogged with traffic, just as time consuming and frustrating.  The reasons we took our feet off the treadmill surrounded us in the Twin Cities. 

On the other side of the spectrum, seeing loved ones face to face can not be underestimated.  Sharing a hug and having a real conversation simply can not compare to a phone call or Facebook post.  We will be back in Minneapolis in the Fall, and I'm already looking forward to seeing these people again.  The acquaintances we've met at various RV parks around the country are lovely, but they can't yet hold a candle to the deep knowledge we have of our own people.  Am I closed off to meeting new friends?  No, but that does seem to require a certain amount of standing still.  Maybe we just don't have the hang of this yet.

Because our plan is to eventually move onto a sailboat, I've been gathering our people to us.  I'm reminding them that they need to prepare to visit us at sea, because naturally we will be more isolated.  Thankfully, most of them are willing. 

All in all, I'm happy that we can visit. But that's now what it is, a visit. This isn't our home anymore.  And that's okay.