Coming "Home"

Just the normal drive through Boston gets our hearts pounding and stomachs churning. The memories of corporate life comes alive driving on 128. We made it into Salem and seeing the gorgeous harbor seemed to make everything better.
We spent the first few days watching the news of New Orleans, checking in with John and Brenda and generally feeling pretty punked. 24 hours of hurricane coverage and seeing that gorgeous city destroyed had us down in the dumps for quite a while. When John and Brenda opted not to come up for their Boston visit, we were actually a bit relieved. I don't think that any of us really were in any mood for playing. As the days rolled by, between stories of criminal indictments of leading politicians, continued bungling of the hurricane relief efforts, global warming and the melting of the polar ice cap, suicide bombings in Iraq, a right-wing conservative as chief justice of the Supreme Court, and warnings of avian flu, it was enough to make anyone want to drink! As one of our Cajun friends said- after a trip to New Orleans after Katrina....."Sometimes I want to cry and sometimes I just want to throw up!"

Outside of doctors and dentists, we' stayed pretty close to "home"--this place is so beautiful and we had the "cat-bird" seat here in the park(ing lot). We had views of the Salem harbour from three sides of the motorhome--sailboats and seagulls, spectacular sunrises and sunsets. I' had my own flock of sparrows who perched outside in the bushes every morning waiting for their bread crumbs (and the occasional ducks who stopped by for a treat). Life couldn't be much simpler. John would fetch me two newspapers every morning from the local convenience store--Boston and the NY Times (mostly to keep me quiet for a few hours). I went to a book sale in Marblehead and got a huge box of once read best selling books for $1.00 apiece. I was in heaven--I think that this is the first time since we left Boston that I've truly felt "retired". Imagine- reading a book in the middle of the day- and not feeling guilty. It was wonderful.

We always take a walk through "Chucktown" (Charlestown) when we're back in Boston. It's strange to go "home again"-- although as each year goes by, I feel less and less attached to the house. Turns out that the current owner wants to get rid of the hot tub (imagine??!!) She's offering it free to anyone who will take it away---little does she know, but it took a crane to get that puppy in the back yard....