Re-entry

Yesterday, Riley and I returned from a week in the Bay Area with my sister and her family.   We had no major plans for our time there, and it was so nice to just hang out with them.  To just be there.  To make dinner and read bedtime stories.  There were trips to Toys R Us (what's the fun in being an aunt if you can't spoil them?) and afternoons at the park and the zoo, but mostly, we just hung out.  And that kind of downtime, that kind of time with people I quite simply adore - it was just what I needed.  

The first thing I did when I arrived home yesterday was vote, a privilege for which I am so grateful and a duty I take very seriously.  While I am pleased with the outcome of the election, I am even happier about the way I've seen people reach out today with graciousness and hope, despite how their candidates fared yesterday.  In my opinion, the way we work together as people, as neighbors, and as communities is so much more important than who sits in the Oval Office, and today I've felt that sort of collaborative spirit present in my interactions with friends and colleagues. 

So I'm back to my real life, complete with packing lunches, doing laundry and one mad rush to locate a homework folder that had gone missing.  But instead of the usual "back to the grind frenzy" I usually encounter after a vacation, today I'm feeling so grounded and peaceful, so grateful for this life I live and the people who fill it with joy and love.  I'm feeling whole and rested and calm.

Things are good.

Things are just really, really good.