We flew home from Tucson after our six-month stay. Here's what I've noticed:
- It always feels weird to be back for about a week.
- It is much quieter in our Brier apartment than it is in our Tucson place. Maybe because the lots are much larger. Maybe because most of our neighbors in Brier are at school or at work. In Tucson, our neighbors are mostly all retired, so they're usually around.
- If you rent out your place to someone for the months you're gone, you have to put a lot of your stuff into storage to make it like an Airbnb for the tenant. And when you get back you have to spend several days putting all your stuff back. It's a lot of work. But you get to decide where you really want everything to go, and what you really don't need. That's a good thing.
- If you think you'll get right back into your usual social activities, you may be mistaken. You may, instead, want to spend all your time indoors as you adjust to the change in your living space. Fortunately, in the second week you'll be interested in getting out of the house again and seeing a few people.
- If you bring a new cat with you, the cat will explore immediately rather than hiding behind the dryer or under the bed like she did in Arizona. That's because she knows you now, so she can be curious rather than afraid.
- If you know your new cat liked dogs where she lived before, you may be encouraged to think she will like the dog who lives upstairs. But if that dog, on its first visit downstairs, eats the cat's food, the cat will immediately take control and terrify the dog. Then, even in a heat wave, the dog will remain upstairs in the hot rooms rather than coming downstairs where it's cooler.
- There is a noisy goose who lives across the street from you. The goose has lived there for the last three years. You wonder what the life expectancy of a goose is.
- You will be surprised at how much greater the cost of living is in your Seattle suburb than in Tucson. The first time you order food from Door Dash, you will pay $60 for two Thai dinners and spring rolls. You only paid $45 two weeks ago for the same thing in Tucson.
- You have been waiting for months to start the process of getting a knee replacement. You see your orthopedic doctor a week after you get home. He says there is a list you have to get in, but the scheduler will call you. Three days later you find out you are scheduled for May 31 - about a month earlier than you expected. That is very good news. You are excited to get your presurgical labs done and you are grateful that all the tests come back normal.
- You have a Tucson Facebook group, and every day you can see what your Arizona friends are doing. Most of them have gone home for the summer like you have, but their faces all come to mind. You also have a Brier Facebook group and you know that now you'll be able to see their faces in person. It's all good!
