Friday, December 14, 2012

Always look on the bright side of life

I apologize if this one's speedy, but as we speak there is a warm bed in front of me calling out for my attention and I, unfortunately, have lifted myself up from it temporarily to write a blog because that's what I do even when I don't want to.

But since I will be on my way to California in several hours, I'd like to give myself as much time to sleep as possible. Ten hours on a plane will be a trying experience like no other, especially on my own once again. And if my experience on the way to London back in September will be any indication, it's going to be painful and overheated and unpleasant.

The reward will be a return back in Los Angeles in the evening, feeling groggy but hopefully happy enough to enjoy home once again. Sad as I am about leaving London, I have constant reminders in my sister and my dad that I am loved across the ocean. My sister even sent me a note yesterday/today saying just that. And little reminders such as that make all the difference to a heart worn down with sadness at leaving a place it loves.

There really is so much to look forward to when I get back.

After a lovely last night in London, followed by some melodramatic sadness and some time taken to relax before heading to bed (and inevitably waking up to write this thing), I will try desperately to wake up early and have a shower before finishing my packing and actually getting up and moving toward the airport.

If not for having aid tomorrow, I should surely die on my journey to Heathrow. But I have been blessed with an extra pair of hands, so things are looking up.

As much as I dread getting on that plane and leaving behind this place that I only feel I've just started to get to know properly, it will be nice going back to the luxuries of a city and a home and a family that is familiar to me.

I'm excited to have my car back, to have a fully stocked supermarket just down the road, to have Disneyland a short distance away. These are things I take for granted whenever I'm at home, but when I go elsewhere (even to Chicago where my school is nowhere near a regular supermarket, only a Whole Foods) I realize how very lucky I am.

Everything in California is only a stone's throw for me - or at least that's how it feels with a pair of "wheels" (as they're called) at my disposal. And that will be something I enjoy returning back to. Convenience is the American way, right?

I don't know how the next day or so will turn out. To be completely honest, I'm really worried. For myself and people around me. I may not be in great spirits on my way home. When I get home that will change of course - once I've been through customs at LAX, which will inevitably be a nightmare.

My greatest hope is that today I can try to put my own anxieties aside and just be a calming presence. I need that for myself as well as others. I'm not a happy airplane traveler, so it is integral that I consciously try and not freak out about the prospect of getting on a plane.

I know that the next few days will be difficult, transitioning back into life as an American. Even if I do love southern California in some ways, it will never be what London is to me. But I think I'll take a page from Monty Python and try to always look on the bright side of life.

It is bright that I'm heading home. And it is bright that I'm leaving a beautiful city with every intention of coming back. And it's bright that there have been minimal hiccups in the process, as I hope there will be none of tomorrow.

I truly have nothing to be upset about. And when I put that in perspective and weigh it against a world filled with dire situations and turmoil, maybe I have absolutely no reason to complain at all.

That's why I'll stop. At least until I write again. Which will either be taking place on a plane or back on the ground in the beautiful sunny and bright California.

No comments:

Post a Comment