Gratitude 1: Home

I came to my blog tonight to start my task of writing about Italy. Oh how I am looking forward to writing about Italy - the time I spent there was magical. Amazing. So big that words don't suffice. Plus, as Frances Mayes says in Under the Tuscan Sun (which I just got from the library today - I tried to read it years ago and set it aside, but now I want to read it because I was in Tuscany!) that "A Chinese poet many centuries ago noticed that to re-create something in words is like being alive twice." I am wanting to relive those magical ten days. But not this day....

Amy's post reminded me that it's Gratitude month. I can usually be counted on to write a few gratitude posts in November if nothing else. (Oh poor neglected blog...I am so sorry! I do still love you so.)  Similar to Amy, I can't promise the whole month, but at least we have today, right? I am 100% for the month of November so far. Yay me.

With the exception of the 10 day science trip I went on in 7th grade, I had never been gone so long from home as when I went to Italy. And while I still don't feel like I had enough time to really soak all of the goodness Italy provided, it is still nice to be home. I'm not going to lie - coming home was kind of a shock: coming back to a place that has free bathrooms with a guaranteed toilet seat and the confidence that the person in front of you is 95% likely to speak English is kind of odd after a week away. Going to work for the first time felt a  lot like it did when I came back from maternity leave with my boys; I had to remind myself what I did at work. And jet lag was not kind to me - I'm still falling asleep on the couch at night when I finally sit down.

But it's nice to be home. I like sleeping in the same bed for more than 3 nights at a time. I like being back with my kids and hubby. I like that I like my life enough to be glad to be back inhabiting it again. It was a perfect time to go on vacation - right before the holidays, so that even though the super big trip that I looked forward to for almost 6 months is over, I still have Thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward to. I liked picking up my phone last Thursday night and hearing my Grandpa Bob's voice, asking me how my trip was and welcoming me home (it quite made me cry; how I will miss him when he passes away.) I liked buying olive oil and dipping my bread in it and remembering the taste of other bread and oil that I had eaten. I've loved these past few nights that I've spent reading a favorite book (The Forgotten Garden; Amy read it in Italy and I was a wee bit jealous so I picked it up after I finished my Italy book - The City of Women) instead of working like mad the way I was before my trip.

Gratitude month is one of my favorite blogging traditions. Happy November!