As I type I\u2019m sitting on a flight back from Atlanta to London. \u00a0I was in Seattle last week for business, then took a side-trip to Florida to visit my parents \u201con the way\u201d back. \u00a0It was a good visit, and I\u2019m glad we could arrange it. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We kept our townhouse in Seattle. \u00a0Partially because we weren\u2019t sure when we were going to move, which complicated the logistics of renting it out, and partially because I planned to be back in Seattle regularly, and my employer prides itself on being frugal (read; frustratingly cheap) and I figured our place would be more comfortable than any Seattle hotel offered in its place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So when I landed in Seattle last Sunday I took a Lyft to \u201cour place,” let myself in, and stood there in the doorway for a few minutes – trying to put a name on my confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe cats aren\u2019t here to meet me at the door, that\u2019s probably it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That wasn\u2019t it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cold in here – and too quiet – that must be it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nope, still not right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I latched the door – irritated that I couldn\u2019t put my finger on the wrong – grabbed my phone, turned off the cameras and vacation mode on the thermostat, before bringing my bag upstairs.
I unpacked a bit, and my sister and brother-in-law arrived – visiting with them made me forget about the whole damn thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rest of the week was early starts, late returns, stolen moments with missed friends, and each time a feeling of not-quite-right-ness when letting myself in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t remember feeling the same when I was back a few months ago. \u00a0Maybe I won\u2019t feel it when I\u2019m back early next year. \u00a0We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But sitting on the plane, knowing I should try to get some sleep but not feeling ready, I can\u2019t help but think about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was still our place. \u00a0It felt familiar. \u00a0It had a bunch of our stuff in. It had a washer and dryer that can wash and dry clothes in a reasonable amount of time (a rant for another time). \u00a0But it wasn\u2019t\u00a0home<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dawnise was missing. \u00a0The cats didn\u2019t greet me at the door. \u00a0It felt like \u201cour other place.” \u00a0I suppose it\u2019s like going to a vacation house – but having never had a vacation house, I can\u2019t really say. So I\u2019m on my way back to London – where the cats will undoubtedly berate me for the couple days they\u2019ve spent alone* – remembering the feeling, first had when we were living in Luxembourg, of not quite knowing where home is. \u00a0It\u2019s not our place, and the stuff in it is new and not all ours\u2026 Never the less, its home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At least for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0* Dawnise, amusingly, arrived in a different part of Florida yesterday to join good friends at Disneyworld on their \u2018farewell to \u2018merica\u2019 tour and won\u2019t be back until the weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I type I\u2019m sitting on a flight back from Atlanta to London. \u00a0I was in Seattle last week for business, then took a side-trip to Florida to visit my parents \u201con the way\u201d back. \u00a0It was a good visit, and I\u2019m glad we could arrange it. \u00a0 We kept our townhouse in Seattle. \u00a0Partially … Continue reading “You can’t go home again, but I guess you can do laundry there…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-london-calling"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oubliette.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oubliette.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oubliette.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oubliette.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oubliette.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.oubliette.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.oubliette.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions\/26"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oubliette.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oubliette.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oubliette.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\n\n\n\n