The Joy of Coming Home

After the demands and chaos of modern business travel, the simple joy of returning home can be a healing experience.  Leaving the stress and confusion of airports, airplanes, and a business convention behind to walk into my own space quickly starts the process of righting a world turned upside down over the last few days.

Dragging in my luggage after the drive home from the airport, my first activity is to sit and talk with mom.  I reassure her that I’m home now, and that I’m here to stay for the visible future.  I let her know that my cousins and aunt won’t be here every day now, we’re back to just me.  We have as much of a conversation as she can hold on to, then I let her know it’s time for me to unpack. 

My Own Space

As a live-in caregiver for my mother, we live in the same home, but I am blessed with a space all my own – my bedroom, bathroom, and my own living room.  It’s a small but relaxing space with low light levels and minimal furnishings, just the way I like it.  As I walk into my space, I’m greeted by the faint but welcoming scent of the lilac essential oil that I add most evenings to my diffuser.  Closing the first door brings the sounds from mom’s favorite show, Dr. Phil, down to tolerable levels.  I close my living room door and now with two doors between me and the Doc, it’s quiet.

I sit in my favorite chair, an aged but comfortable glider, put up my feet, and ease into the gentle gliding motion.  My sliding glass door offers a clear view of my backyard forest, now accented by an ever‑so‑light dusting of fresh snow.  The soft, rhythmic creaking from the back and forth motion of my chair has a soothing effect that lulls me into a very relaxed state.  I’ve missed this space.

My Own Bed

Once bedtime arrives, I start my diffuser for the evening and crawl in between the flannel sheets under my best winter comforter.  My first feeling is sheer gratitude that I’m not in an unfamiliar hotel bed tonight futilely attempting to get comfortable with mushy pillows in a too-warm room.  My second point of gratitude is knowing beyond a doubt that I won’t be awoken in the early hours by drunk revelers.  My own pillows, my own bed, my diffuser, my own room… everything is just as it should be.

I wake up at 3am, because my body doesn’t fully realize it’s home yet.  Lying awake for most of the next 3 hours is much easier to tolerate in my own bed.  As it turns out, it ends up taking several days for my internal clock to reset to my home time zone, but it finally happens and I’m now back to waking up at 5am.

My Own Kitchen

It’s a wonderful thing when everything you need is not only available, it’s exactly where you expect it to be.  And my kitchen has something in it that I deeply treasure every morning, my espresso machine.  That’s right, no more “Breakfast Blend” in a paper cup… I’m back to the real deal.  I take my morning supplements and brew my favorite morning cup.  Well, technically, I brew a couple of cups.  I normally start with my version of a mocha – three shots of espresso with an ounce of steamed heavy cream and a spoonful of raw fermented cacao topped with fresh ground Ceylon cinnamon.  My second cup is just a simple double shot of espresso – or a doppio if you prefer.  Either way, it’s my coffee and it brings me joy.

It’s Tuesday before I’m back to my morning exercise routine and it feels good.  Post workout (or just mid-morning on non-workout days) brings my coffee fruit tea, and perhaps a little breakfast to energize my day.  I’m able to work most of my day from home on Monday, so I get to make my own lunch as well.  It’s so nice to have a choice in what I eat that doesn’t involve a menu full of poor options.

My Own Schedule

Facing the day ahead with the ability to decide for myself what order to take on the tasks given me is comforting.  At the convention, everything occurred at specific times and places, involving navigating huge crowds of people to make my way to the next thing on my schedule.  Here, I can jump into a task and if it isn’t working for me, I can switch to another or just take an unscheduled break… but I get to decide how to take it all on.  As long as I deliver the required results on-time, everyone wins.

To put this all in perspective, with most of my work being from home, I do start pretty early all too often.  It’s not unusual for me to be performing work-related tasks at 5:30am, and I’ve been known to shut my computer down past my normal bedtime – but only in special circumstances.  For normal workdays, starting early means that by 3 or 4pm, I may already have 8 or 9 hours in and in most cases can call it a day.

Switching over to a good audio book mid-afternoon, followed by dinner, and then meditation makes for a relaxing end to my day.  It’s so good to no longer have evening events to consider, just addressing my mother’s needs and taking it easy feels like a good plan.

Back to Normal

Being home again means that life is returning to normal.  This brings me great joy.

About Rod Rawls 104 Articles
A severe TBI survivor and family caregiver trying to adapt to a changing world and along the way, hoping to offer helpful tools for those with similar challenges.

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