(Words above followed by a deep sigh…)
There’s simply nothing as sweet as coming home. I say the words above and sigh deeply and satisfyingly and soak in the familiar shape, sound, and smell of my home and it feels great. Back home, back in a city I love.
Going away for a month or more on retreat is something I value highly. It is necessary to my state of mind. But I must eventually retreat from the retreat, and return home. The words of the title, said with a little extra pause just after the comma, and a sigh, in this context represents one of my favourite utterances. It moves me. I don’t know if it goes back further than Sam’s last words at the very end of Tolkien’s trilogy, but that is one place I know it resonates greatly. Almost every time I finished those books (and those times are very many), I’d get to those words… and start to cry. I still do.
Returning home, after all the troubles of the world you may have had to deal with out there, or all the wonderful things you’ve seen and people you’ve met, for good or ill… returning home, closing the gate or door and sitting down… is truly a sweet, sweet, thing.
-cvj
While you were gone, one of the geography blogs I subscribe to posted about this project of the LA Times called Mapping LA. It might be a fun link to check out. http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/