Back to Our Lives

We’re back now, and God are we tired. Tired and sick, all three of us. Cedric pointed out that European illnesses killed masses of the original Americans, and now those microbes are killing us too. The baby has never been sick before now, either. It’s not fun. He’s grouchy. His stuffy nose is waking him up, when all he wants is sleep. When all we, his parents, want is sleep. Plus, when the whole family is sick, there ain’t nobody makin’ chicken soup.
The house is a mess, and I don’t function well in disorganization. Stuff from our suitcases is strewn everywhere – clothing, toys, gifts for people. We’re too lazy and weak to put things away – every time we need something, we dig it out of the suitcase, adding to the chaos. A fuzzy layer of dust covers everything. It wasn’t a good idea to give up dusting for a month, and then go on vacation for two weeks. But on a positive note, I was able to write out the grocery list with my index finger on the dining room table. No need to search for a working pen.
Traveling across the globe with a baby is more exhausting than I would have imagined. It prevents you from getting any rest on the plane (or during the trip at all). Babies don’t recover from jetlag like adults. They don’t rationally tell themselves “I should stay up a few more hours tonight to get functioning on the local time.” No, you find yourself up with your baby at 3am, playing with annoying musical light-up toys, wondering what kind of sadist would invent such a thing. Since I do try to find the positive in every situation, I will say that trying to entertain a non-napping baby during an 8 hour flight didn’t give me much time to indulge my flying phobia – usually I spend much of the flight fretting, whispering to Cedric things like “We should have made a will. I want your mom to take the dogs.”
In retrospect, I think we should have taken it a little easier during our vacation. Almost every day was very busy, except for the time we spent on the island. Way, way too much time spent on the road. The last night of our vacation, it took us 3 hours to come home from Paris. No trips to Paris next year, God willing.
Despite everything, it’s good to be home. I wasn’t necessarily excited to be back in the US, or back in Indiana. But if I have to be sick and exhausted, it’s so nice to be able to do so in my own bed.