Reentry and reintegration - New York
Greetings from Gramercy Park, New York!
Our reentry to the U.S., and the ragged end of our traveling ways, has been fun. It has also been much rockier and more thought provoking than we had expected.
At least for the weekend, it felt a lot like an extension of the world-round trip. We are living in a nice hotel (hey, that feels familiar), and we are running around in a big city.
It happens to be our ‘home’ city, and the running around has mostly been reconnecting with friends: a sleepover for Zola, a genteel roof-top cocktail party in Harlem followed by a raucous dinner party on the Upper West Side.
On Sunday, we also dashed up to our house in the Catskills to do laundry, shed baggage, and assess the damage from the winter. Both kids were so happy to be truly in a place of their own that it was hard for us to leave again.
Still, if I squinted, until Monday morning it felt like the world-round trip.
This morning, though, I had my first day back at work. It was pleasant and felt natural to go back to the New York offices of the Firm where I worked for ten years. I saw dozens of people I knew, and felt very much at home. The work will be challenging and interesting.
Still, it was strange to not be with India and the kids. They had a full day together, running around in the cold New York rain. We met for dinner early at the apartment of old and dear friends, so I was not separated from them for all that long.
Even if I squint, though, it doesn’t feel like a world-round trip anymore.
Because we have re-entered a world we know in the middle of the school year, in the middle of the month, all around us we see stability and routine. Our own instability and rootlessness feels highlighted by contrast. I am definitely feeling uncomfortable with this much ambiguity and. turbulence.
This is one of the consequences of adventure, I think. We will settle down some, rent a place for me to live, and create some greater sense of stability. India and the kids will go to Nashville for a while, and I will join them as much as I can.
We knew that the reentry would be ragged. We need to hold each other closely and get through it.
Todd Barrett said,
April 20, 2009 @ 11:08 pm
Welcome back! It’s been a pleasure to “travel” with you and your Intrepideers, Peter. You’ve been a remarkable correspondent, and Jen and I are probably a little sad, too, that this stage of your adventure is a wrap. But as with so many great adventure tales, we eagerly await the next chapter.
– Todd and Jen
Peter said,
April 22, 2009 @ 8:23 pm
Todd-
Thank you for your very kind note. It means even more coming from a real (if temporarily diverted) correspondent. Maybe the book title can be “The Intrepideers.” Maybe something simpler. Hope to see you soon.
Peter