Return to Peace

I have been back in America four days now and each day I think my body is finally adjusted to the time change.  I'm hoping it's for certain today!  My last blog was on peace and vacation and how I'd been thinking about vacation and what it has meant for me to go on vacation over the years and how that's changed.  I talked to my mom about it a bit and when I specifically mentioned how it feels different for me going away on vacation (because what am I really going away from?) and going home after vacation (because, what home am I really returning to) she suggested that maybe it's not about what I'm going home to but HOW I'm going home.  I expanded this further to include HOW I'm going on vacation.  My mind set.  My spirit.  My being.  Not just getting away or going home and all the senses those thoughts evoke (all the to-do lists at home and work, cleaning my dead fish's tank and all!)  I wrote by hand into a small notebook every day while in Spain - carried it around with me everywhere.  I also read Simon's "The Ten Commitments" and meditated on much of it, as I practiced yoga daily on my balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and sat and just listened to the waves coming in against the shore and the birds talking to each other above.  When I was at the market yesterday standing in line to check out I thought, "what was your most favorite time in Spain?"  Honestly, the answer came quickly.  It was the times, and there were so many, when I just stood still in appreciation.  Appreciation for the waves, the sun, not having an agenda, writing on the rocks extending into the Mediterranean while Sam dug into the sand, appreciation for standing on the terrace of a 900 year-old monetary outside Chopin's cell when he visited, appreciation for the craftsmanship of a chapel just as old and all it's ornate and stained glass wonder, for the English speaking yoga instructor at the Palma studio where I took a class, for the musician duo who seamlessly played Vivaldi's Four Seasons Spring Allegro number 1 movement in our hotel cafe one night after dinner, for all the Spanish speaking people and their congeniality and appreciation for my attempts at their language.  There were so many times when I just sat.  I didn't have a clock to watch.  No agenda outside of eating breakfast and dinner each day at 8AM and 7PM in our hotel dining room.  I am bringing that awareness back with me.  That's HOW I return.  In appreciation to sit still.  xo