I arrived back in Tucson on Tuesday, January 3rd a little after 9 pm Mountain Time. I left my house in Goshen around 8:30 am Eastern Time. A long day of travel (including a 3 hour delay in Phoenix waiting for my 45 minute flight to Tucson) left me drained. But I was greeted with smiles and food by my housemates who generously drove to the airport to pick me up.
This was the first year that coming home felt like visiting more than returning home. This transition has been stretched for me by my proximity to home while I attended Goshen College for four years (not to mention living at home for an extended period during lock-down in 2020). But I also had the joy of joining my partner, Gretta, and her family for their Christmases! In total, Gretta and I celebrated Christmas 6 times! Once with both of our immediate families and with each of our parents' families. My time at home was full of family, food, puzzles, games, and movies. A very relaxed and special time.
Talking with my housemates when I arrived in Tucson, those of us visiting with family and felt a sharper sense of sadness as we parted for the next several months. Some of this is because we know what's here in Tucson. For better or worse, we don't have the same new excitement that we did in September. We know what our commutes look like. We know what we do at work. We know how we're going to plan our meals.
Coming back to what we know is also good. It means that there was a shorter adjustment period to my routine in Tucson. We fell back into our routines fairly quickly and are busy making plans for the next several months. Since we've been back together we scheduled ourselves out Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening this weekend! It has also been a wonderful weekend of connecting with the Shalom community and other young adult volunteers.
This was a shorter week in Tucson and full of more reflecting than photo opportunities but here are a few from home (that I pulled from my mom's Facebook post).
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