Travel In The Near Abroad: A Visit To New Home

 

Last week, as may have been readily apparent from my horribly formatted post yesterday (and for which I do apologize; the bug is apparently deeper than I could fix on my phone or my computer upon my return), I was traveling in the Near Abroad - in this case, to New Home.

The visit itself had been planned for some months, a two day seminar followed by a quick visit to Old Home.  But fate - in the form of a typhoon - intervened:  my Headmaster and my Sensei were unable to leave Japan.

I thought about canceling the trip but this development happened on Tuesday and I was scheduled to leave Wednesday.  Making a change in the program seemed like too much effort at that point.

All is well in New Home.

The house is pretty much as I remember it.  Poppy the Brave (seen above) was very happy to see me and we took several walks around our old neighborhood.  The weather there has been much wetter and cooler than average, which made walking almost pleasant.

I did end up going to a class at my old dojo.  It was nice to see my former fellow students and train under my former Sensei.  They are in a new facility now.  It was odd to realize this was the first location that I had never trained in since the dojo started.

I also had the opportunity to go by the rabbit shelter I had volunteered at for so long.  They are always happy to see me, and it is good to see how the shelter is doing.  It did make me miss volunteering there; I have not connected in the same way with the rabbit shelters locally.

The shelter, it seems, has yet to find a new TB, general handyman and changer of air filters extraordinaire.

Friday, I had the pleasure and luxury of actually playing tourist in a place I lived for many years

The day started with a lovely breakfast with Nighean Dhonn (Lemon Poppy-seed French toast, seen above).  We then picked up The Fiancé and headed into town, where we went to two museums, one which I had visited many years ago which The Fiancé had never visited and one which all three of us had never visited.  The weather was overcast and a bit muggy, but walkable.  We greatly enjoyed out time there.

We had an early dinner - BBQ (pictured below).  It has been a good long while - since the move, really - since I have had actual BBQ.  

I was up and out early Saturday morning.

The oddest feeling I felt over the course of my three days there was a profound sense of homesickness.

This might surprise my long time readers, seeing as how I often found myself at odds with some things (largely, the weather of course). And yet, I left with a feeling both that I missed large aspects of being there and yes, there is a world in which I could see us retiring back there.

Part of that is driven by the fact that I easily fit back into the people and activities I had done before, if only briefly.  Part of that is driven by the fact that likely that will be where Nighean Dhonn and The Fiancé make their long term home (and quite likely, the most likely to have grandchildren).  Part of it is, financially, it would make a lot of sense to be there with a paid off home and much lower taxes.  

But I wonder if part of it is the sale of The Ranch.

I think it is reasonable to say that I had fixated on being in a single place - The Ranch - so long that it had come to crowd out any other possibilities.  Now that the possibility is gone beyond reach, other possibilities present themselves.

The fact that I felt homesick a bit surprised me; if you remember from this past Christmas, I very much felt like a stranger in a house that was formerly mine (well, technically still is). What changed?  If nothing else, the fact that one door closed - for good.

It does leave the future open for some possibilities I had not anticipated.  It is good to know that one can still be pleasantly surprised, even in the midst of life transitions.