Returning to the East Coast

Here I am, back on Eastern Standard Time, except that I'm really not.  I'm still at the point of jet lag where I have to stop to think about what day it is.  On Saturday, December 31, we began our long trek back from our very strange vacation in Hawaii.

We had to check out of our resort villa at 10 a.m., but our flight didn't leave until 5 p.m.  So we ate a last Hawaii meal at the better restaurant that's part of the resort, and then my spouse waited with me and my parents, while the other half of the family vacationers  made their way to the airport.  Then we went to the airport, spent some time at the airport lounge that's a perk of the resort, where we were the only ones.  It's not the kind of lounge where there's free food and alcohol, but it was a relief to be away from the huge crowds of people in the airport.

The flight back was easier than the flight to Hawaii.  We didn't sit at the gate for several hours for one thing, and the trip back took two hours less than the flight there--both direct flights.  The in-flight dinner was strange.  We were asked if we wanted vegetarian pasta or chicken.  I chose the pasta, which was not awful, as far as airplane food goes.

I thought back to my earliest flying days, the mid-80's, where even on short flights, we often got a meal, if the flight happened over a meal time.  I would call ahead to secure a vegetarian meal, which was often a baked potato with a cheese topping or a pasta with a tomato sauce.  Saturday's meal was pasta with a white triangle that seemed to be tofu, not cheese.  There was a bit of salad on the side, and everything had some sort of vinaigrette.  There was a hard roll and butter.  The highlight of the meal was the packet of chocolate covered macadamia nuts.

I did get some sleep on the overnight flight.  I also watched 2 movies, one at the beginning of the flight, and one at the end.  I started with Top Gun Maverick, which I wanted to see when it came out.  It was about what I expected.  Then I went back to the original Top Gun, which has not aged well at all--I couldn't finish it.  

After several hours of restless sleeping, I watched Reality Bites, another movie which hasn't aged well.  At one point, I thought it perfectly captured my life, but now, I'm not so sure.  At one point, I thought it was witty and smart, but now I'm not so sure.  It is an interesting time capsule, a society without smart phones, a young woman making a documentary with a bulky camera instead of her phone, AIDS as a death sentence.

The plane landed, we got our luggage, and off we went to retrieve our car.  My spouse and I returned to my seminary apartment, where he'll stay until tomorrow when he catches a plane back to North Carolina, where we hope our little house has withstood the challenges of last week's deep freeze.  It may have been a great time for him to be away, with power and water disruptions.  Hopefully the pipes didn't freeze and the new HVAC system will still be just fine.

We went for a late afternoon walk around my favorite streets of the neighborhood.  I am happy to see that many of the holiday decorations and lights are still up, and in fact a few more have been added.  We napped, read a bit, drank some wine, ate some cheese and crackers.

Today we'll try to map out a schedule for the remaining home repairs/improvements.  We'll take a walk to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather.  We'll do more of what brings us joy before getting back to the work that must be done.