Psst! Did You Forget Something?

This morning I watched as my neighbor trailed her suitcase down the walk to her garage. Ah I thought, she is off on an adventure. Good for her! I hope it is somewhere warm.

Then she stopped and looked back at her house as if to check that she had not left some stray part of herself back on the front step. Ah-ha I thought, I’m not the only one who does that!

Does everyone feel this tug upon leaving their house behind? I do. Despite detailed check lists and all the best laid plans … no matter how short or long the trip … whenever I leave to travel overnight, it always feels as if I have forgotten something. And in a way, I suppose I have. After all my nice comfortable life … my security blanket … is back there awaiting my return.

But what is even more strange is how alien my house will feel when I return lugging my old suitcase and carrying my new adventures into my old life. What a bizarre feeling. It is as if the air in the house has become rarified in my absence. However, the strangeness wears off with unpacking and doing the laundry and realizing that I forgot to stop for groceries. Welcome home.