Getting back to our home was weird. I can't remember which cabinet holds the towels and where the frying pans are. But things from muscle memory work automatically.
I wasn't sure that Evan would remember the place but two minutes after he walked in through the front doors he had retrieved his old favorite toy - a hulking lump of noise-making and synthesized talking plastic in the shape of a train that Stacy had given him on his first birthday. Over the course of the next few days he blossomed. His vocabulary and sentence-making improved in leaps and bounds as did his seeming understanding of the world around him. It's as if he was almost ready but waiting to return home before pulling all the pieces together.
Vivian sometimes acts like she never left. Maggi noodles and school uniforms may have just been temporary hallucinations. When asked she remembers all that. But by silent observation alone you'd never know that she was anywhere but Austin for the last school year.
When we were getting into month eight or so, Jo and I would fantasize and strategize how we'd visit all our favorite restaurants. In the first 36 hours, like our own version of NYT's 36 hours in Austin. On the way home from the airport, we stopped at 24 Diner. But since then we've hardly eaten out. Musashino, Contigo and HopDoddy.
People change. Amanda and Gordon are parents. Jen is single. There's the business of the new nephew. I haven't yet met my business people. Old friends but different. Not in a bad way.
We are trying Austin back on a bit gingerly. Starting soccer and working out at Red/Black are big steps. Today - breakfast at Taco Shack, a run around Town Lake and lunch at China Cafe - was huge. I almost feel like I'll be back home. Soon.
