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Posted on November 14, 2019 Posted by John Scalzi 11 Comments
When I left Ohio for my week-long journey around the American South, my yard was still green and most of the trees in it still had leaves. When I returned, neither of these things were broadly true. What a change a week can make.
My trip, incidentally, was really enjoyable. It had a couple of minor hiccups — I have a temporary crown on a molar and it fell out, necessitating a side trip to a dentist in Atlanta, and in Montgomery, Alabama, I was trapped in an elevator for about 20 minutes — but by and large my plan of “Drive around the lower latitudes of the continental US, and see people in it” was a smashing success. Lots of friends, conversations and excellent dining experiences were had.
Still, and despite the cold, it’s nice to be home, with Krissy and the cats and my own bed. I missed them and they missed me (well, the bed is an inanimate object. Everything else, however, was glad to see me). I don’t ever have to go away to remember how much I love being home, but when I do go, it’s always nice to be back.
So: Hello. I’m home again.
Be sure to take a step ladder with you whenever you ride an elevator, so you can reach the escape hatch in the ceiling.
Glad you had a good trip! Sounds like you definitely earned it! I’m facing an extended trip Down South for the holidays to visit family… and I’m not looking forward to it this year? Did you have (spoken or non-spoken) topics that were verboten, so to speak? Seeing as you were visiting friends you wanted to visit with, y’all might have been a bit more like-minded, precluding any unpleasantness at the dinner table…
No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.
Lin Yutang
The man who wrote about sentient yogurt doesn’t conceive that his bed may have in fact missed him?
> they missed me (well, the bed is an inanimate object ….
Yeah, you don’t have one of the new ThinkyBeds yet?
You don’t know that the bed doesn’t have feelings. Maybe it is grateful every night for the presence of your warmth? The world is a complex place, John. Don’t try to dumb it down with your weird insistence on rational thinking.
Aw, you seem to have breezed right by me without stopping in to say hi. This despite the fact that I’ve left literally dozens of comments on your blog and Twitter account. I thought we were friends!
(Yes, this is tongue in cheek. I know I’m risking the failure mode of clever here. You don’t owe me a damn thing, and I fully realize that.)
Scalzi’s March to the Sea.
News at 6 and 10.
To thibk, ours could be the last generation to know beds who don’t miss them.
About that temporary crown: same thing happened to me once while I was traveling. I stuck it back on with Dentemp, an emergency dental repair material sold in most drugstores. (There are similar brands; I just happened to have that one on hand.) It held for a couple of weeks until I could get back to my dentist. Tiny bottle, under ten bucks–a good thing to carry if you travel a lot.
Dentemp apparently changed formula and isn’t nearly as effective as it used to be. At least that was the case last time I checked.