BACK FROM PARADISE: Chicago here I am

So lucky the temperature got back to "sane" temperatures!  After arriving home I sat near the open window in the sitting-room and absorbed the cool breeze, catching up on the news of the day.  I've been gone quite a bit since mid-May.  I am a bit disconcerted, a bit disoriented.  And brimming with things to do: unpack, do the laundry, put books back in the bookcase, hang posters on walls, shop for groceries, catch up with the writing, pick up shoes from the Village Cobbler, get sunglasses fixed, and on and on.

But this morning I read the Sunday paper and sip coffee out on the deck.  Alone!  I don't have to make small talk nor smile nor tell my life story first thing in the morning.  I can be grumpy.  I can be quiet.  I can walk around wearing my nightgown.  Even David is out.  Later we talk with grandchildren on Skype who call their grandfather on his birthday.  Internet!  After, we watch the Wimbledon final.  Television!  What else has been missing?

I must confess that after a few days I needed some tv, some easy access to a phone or the Internet.  And some solitude.  We still wait for the bells to ring calling us to supper or breakfast but the pizza delivery man rang our doorbell last night and that was enough.  We can eat when we want to, we can get up from the table when we are finished.  I didn't realize how difficult it is to live in a community where we have to do many things together and at the same time.  Is that how Summer camp for kids is?  Is it like military life?  Regimented, scheduled, unified?