Always a bit of a shock, and a welcome mix of familiar
comforts, bewildering disparities and, above all, precious reunions with
friends and family.
After leaving Baku June 16 and having two marvelous weeks in
Italy and France, our US summer travel blitz found us in Brooklyn, Big Apple;
Montpelier and Brattleboro, Vermont; LaLa Land, CA; University Place and Hood
Canal, WA; ending with a grand finale of a White Coat ceremony heralding the
start of Cam’s med school in Valhalla, NY. Wow and wow. The boy looked great.
The disparity bit has to do with the striking disconnect
between all-powerful corporations, dwindling in number but increasing in might,
that wield control over people’s well-being,
making some homeless and others sick, too
poor to pay rigged health costs; and what seems like an increasing number of sensible, creative, far-looking projects that foster wise use of resources and community
well-being. The same actors who do these works must be neighbors, how can they
think/act so differently? Greed/money,
power vs. conscience/vision, peace. This
makes me hate/love the idea of living in the US again. It would make me crazy
if I lived here.
Then there is the utterly enjoyable comfort level for us
returning expats. Indeed I did pet the
vegetables in the first tastefully-lit humongous Safeway I visited. Five kinds
of lettuce! Worlds of possibility DO lay beyond the cabbage and eggplants of
the Caspian. Understanding what everyone
is saying, just in idly overhearing the daily conversation of strangers—that is
big. In Tacoma, the familiar places, knowing what has changed and what has not,
that is very big, the roots alive and well. Seeing familiar faces on the
walking trail or at a store, big big big. Presumably we will have to retire somewhere,
someday not too distant. This trip, we
found ourselves more drawn to Washington than we realized.
But for now, on to Asian adventure…
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