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The World Cup was nice. It's great to be back.

Seeing Jo at Austin airport made me realize one more time how much I had missed her. Several thoughts ran through my head. One was that the last 15 days had been the longest we have been apart. Which in turn led to the next one: I hope Jo likes Brazil in 2014.

About 15 minutes later, Courtney was handing Evan to me. His face looked about the same but the rest of him was different - so much bigger than I remembered. He looked at me for a second or two and then turned away and looked at Jo as if to say "Who the fuck is this and what am I supposed to do with him?" But then his eyes came back to me and he welcomed me back with smiles and then laughs and all kinds of gurgles and squeals.

Soon it was time to get Vivian. When we had last Skyped I had promised her that I would be there to pick her up from school on Tuesday. She remembers these things. So when the weird hour-long security check at Dakar (if you've flown through there you know what I mean - where they pull the seats off their frames and search the aircraft) held us up, I kept my fingers crossed. And when the immigration line at Dulles airport was a mile long, I crossed my fingers again.

I will remember the look on Vivian's face as she ran up and jumped into my arms. They say being a parent has its rewards. This was a big one.

Vivian having a go at her vuvuzela

Did I say it's nice to be back? After about 20 hours in Austin, we got into a car and drove off towards the corn fields of Nebraska. Oh - and Evan hates being in his car seat. But that's another story.