And You Thought It Was Over

I don’t know why, but ever since I came back from Senegal I just feel like I’m in a funk. Normally I’m as busy as a bee and can’t wait to just dive into things, but now I just feel like “being” for awhile. And I guess I just have to deal with this. Sometimes I feel guilty that I’m “wasting” time or that just plain bored, but it does feel nice to notice time without being ruled by it. I recall a passage from the Odyssey where the Titaness Calypso tells Odysseus that time is just a thing that humans created in a futile attempt to measure the infinity of eternity. At the time, in my sixteen year old American know-it-all manner, I thought that with technology we had finally woven time into the very fabric of existence. But now I’m glad to realize just how relative something as absolute as time can be. I can allow myself to take a few days to craft a wonderful response to an email without obsessing that the recipient will think I hate him/her for not responding within 24 hours. Leaving Senegal has been harder than I’ve thought – certainly not as easy to verbalize. But there is something to be said for crawling into pajama pants in a heated home and watching movies while the snow blows outside. A few more reentry posts to follow...