Homeward Bound

Tucking the boys in on our first night in Prague last August, I sat on Ben's bed and kissed him goodnight. He looked at me and started to cry, saying he was homesick. We were excited about this adventure, but our exit from home was stressful. We'd been mostly up for about 34 hours. Everyone was fatigued. So it wasn't surprising that Ben's emotional state was fragile. Nor was it surprising, I guess, that I cried myself to sleep that first night, too.

Tonight's our last night in Prague. How can it have gone so fast? How can we have fallen so in love with a city, a community? How can it be that both Ben and I fall asleep tonight with heavy hearts, knowing how much we'll miss this place?

The emotional roller coaster of the last week has been exhausting, nearly excruciating. My senses are on overdrive, taking in all the colors and sounds: the fairytale architecture, the top-of-the-hour tower trumpeters, the Dixieland band on Charles Bridge. Pilsener and Budvar fresh from the tap, children in red and blue polos singing in Riverside's courtyard for school's closing assembly, squeezing new-but-dear friends goodbye and trying not to sob on their shoulders (sorry, Laura). Billa's '70s and '80s soundtrack (up today: "You're So Vain" and the Jackson 5), the subway message at each station telling passengers to finish entering and exiting the train because the doors are about to close.

Don't get me wrong. We're eager to return home -- Ben was jumping down the stairs today, practically singing about how happy he was to be heading back to the States. Both Garrett and Ben can't wait to see their friends, sleep in their own rooms, be in a place where English is the predominant language. And Karl and I have been listing the silly things we eagerly anticipate:

• complimentary tap water in restaurants
• New York pizza
• yogurt that comes with lids
• Karl's pancake griddle
• easier biking
• granola bars
• Netflix
• Swiss chard and black beans (we haven't made a real chilaquile all year)
• a home with two bathrooms
• bagels
• Hell with Heidi Every Friday (Kate's 5:45am workout class)
• a real shower
• summer birdsong in the Northeast
• Empire apples
• a dryer
• Wilber Park
• our porch

And the not-so-silly things: Family and friends. Neighbors. UUSO (our Unitarian Universalist congregation). Our Oneonta community. We've missed you all.

We're going home.