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10 day countdown

We will be returning home soon after quite a journey.

Surprisingly to me, I'm (mostly) ready to come home. 

For one, I miss my students. Even though I actively blocked work off from the trip, such as not checking work emails, my students still creeped into my mind from time to time. I wonder how they're doing, and not just in math. I also hear myself think that there's so much I want to teach in a class, other than the math part. How that will exactly happen is still a mystery. Genuine classroom moments require that I be healthy mentally/physically/emotionally, and that might mean taking it easy for the remainder of this school year. That's okay. I hope that even when I'm low, I'm still giving something while I'm at work. I must and want to take care of myself, so that I can be open and available whenever someone wants to reach out.

Second, I miss all the little comforts of home. Our queen-size bed, delicious Italian coffee, my piano, and my books, and the occasional meeting with a friend for example. Small things that make a place "home"..

As ready as I am, I am also not prepared to return. I fear the family game is not over yet, even though I want it to end. I'm preparing ways to block myself off if needed, even if the reasons I come up with are not the entire truth. I'm preparing ways to buy some more time, until I can safely walk away.

The readiness outweighs the fear however. I know there is a lot of love around me, and knowing that is enough to keep me standing tall and moving my feet slowly forward.

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