Coming home is often a bittersweet experience. I wasn’t ready to leave Scotland. A little part of me felt at home there, in a place where part of my history is. Even my skin felt at home. The coolness in the air gave my fair face a bright, dewy glow.

In front of Loch Lomond, on our way to the Highlands

Of course, spending 24+ hours in planes and airports didn’t smooth out the departure ambivalence (and it completely ruined any residual dewy-ness—oily due to lack of shower is not the same thing). By the time we got home, I was spent and completely unable to deal with the complex emotions of return. Babies get cranky and weepy when they’re tired. I believe adults are no different. The next morning, I couldn’t even think about our trip without getting emotional.

Happy to say, I’m almost fully recovered now after getting back into the routine of home life. Most of my flowers made it thanks to my mother-in-law’s attentions while we were away. I mowed the lawn (the parts that weren’t crispy-dry, anyway). I enjoyed a delicious tomato-basil salad from my now overflowing vegetable garden!

And I played hide-and-seek-kong with Becks (who was obviously very excited to play)

And I’m here, writing! I certainly missed it. I had hoped I would be able to keep up while I was away but it just wasn’t feasible. Hopefully you’ve stuck with me!

I did take lots of pictures and make notes for potential posts. So this is just me saying, “Hi, I’m back!” I’ll post again soon with photos and stories of our British adventures in London and Scotland.  We had an amazing time and I’ll be happy to relive the vacation!

Full disclosure: this is Edinburgh, not London, but still cool!