After thirteen hours of driving Saturday (after I took the three hour GRE Literature in English subject test) and fifteen hours yesterday, I’m home. I’ve only been away for two months, and in most ways, it’s as if nothing has changed while I’ve been gone. But in other ways it feels rather different. It’s almost as if my depth perception is skewed. The rooms seem larger; the lights brighter; the stairs up to my bedroom less steep; the sound of voices, the air conditioner, the flushing toilet, the garage door, the telephone, and the washing machine startling and loud. A familiar strangeness.
I think that these past two months have been primarily a learning experience, and I’ve made a list of the foremost lessons I’ve learned.
1. There is a huge disconnect in the way I perceive things and actual reality. Where this naïveté came from, I have no idea, but I assure you that this has shattered the idealized notions I once held. I hope it did, anyway. At least now I won’t spend the rest of my life believing I was missing out because I don’t have a farm. In fact, I never want to work on any sort of farm again. In my entire life. Ever. Please and thank you.
2. Always take the proffered chances to get to know someone. I never had another opportunity to talk to the French boy and find out his story.
3. You can trust your gut instinct.
4. There’s no such thing as chance. Fate, destiny, serendipity—I think that some things were just meant to be. Mum and I didn’t stop at the church when we saw the Lobster & Chicken Dinner sign or sit at that table with those four ladies by accident. Diana, Margaret, Vivian, and Sally took me under their wings, and I can honestly say that if it were not for their friendships I would not have lasted those two months.
5. We were meant to live in community with others.
This is my last post here. I’ll spend the next few months playing with one of my most favorite people in the world, finishing my novel, and applying for graduate school to pursue a PhD in literature. Thank you all for following along with me on this journey and for encouraging me along the way.
