Being back is weird

John made the comment yesterday, as we were going for an evening run around Chuck's neighborhood, that we'd only been in Texas a few hours, and he already missed New York. I understood completely. I mean, it's not that we hate Texas. We're really happy to be here again for a visit, to see so many people that we love and miss, to have that odd experience of revisiting things that were once so intrinsic a part of our everyday lives, now so experientially removed from who we are now. Still, I, too, miss New York. Frankly, it's kind of my job as a New Yorker. If you live there, I'm sure you understand. Anyway, the evening run was also different... the air was thick last night, the new allergens in the environment were noticeable, and everyhing was so.. well... quiet. That, and it was about 62 degrees, in the middle of December. Weirdness.

The trip here got off to a predictable start; Laguardia airport was a madhouse when we got there at a little before 5am, and we stood in line at check-in until about 6:45, just fifteen minutes before our plane would depart. While standing in line, Kyadden mewed incessantly in his bag, upsetting all of the nearby dogs in their bags, which was good fun. Of course, once we got on the plane, the world was right again. Kyadden went instantly to sleep, the plane left on time and arrived at DFW fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.

There was some suspense riding on this arrival for us because my Mom would be picking us up, and she hasn't seen us since our big physical transformations. She got to the baggage claim, and when she finally saw us, she gave John a big hug, then came up to me and said, "Wow, your eyes are a little red... you need to get more sleep." Yeah... that's my Mom for ya. Later, though, she did have a good look at me and freaked out, so that was gratifying. i was hoping for more of a cool holy-crap-you-look-so-different-or-something look on her face, but no such luck. Oh, well... plenty of people to see me yet, so I'll just have to wait until then before I get that gratification. Chuck and Donna saw me for the first time in a while, too, and they both said something, but they've seen me more recently than most, so they don't really count on my shock factor search. But there are others, and I think they'll have a little more of a reaction. I hope so, anyway, or I'm going to feel extremely lame.