Feliz Navidad

Everyone is gone save me now. Coral and I had the same flight but for some reason her's got pushed up and left yesterday. I'll see her again in Quito before I leave though. The rest gone and now I am free. Really and truly free. This joy hits me in the form of a profound tiredness. Coral and I both have felt this way for weeks, with nearly every waking hour being responsible, being in charge, on the job, ON. Life and work all blending into one and the same. It is a strange feeling and a little hard to describe. What keeps you going through it all though is the responsibility I realize. Now that it is finally gone what remains is simple sheer exhaustion.

Somehow though I must celebrate and toast to this freedom. Joy, peace, and pride also remain and I must honor them as well. And so I meet up with Catherine who promised to celebrate with me heading over to Jenny and Chris's café with her and Sonia, a cheery peace corp volunteer from Wyoming who is in town. I am happy for this and find Catherine, Jenny, Chris, and Sonia are people I can call friends here. Something that has felt alien to me for a long while now. It makes me have more hope and faith for coming back next semester. I have friends and some recourse, some semblance of a life all my own.

I rallied my best and stayed up late as I could telling stories and sipping on vodka screwdrivers round the table with everyone. Jenny and Chris are rather intrigued by me and I got put under the spotlight that night, in a good way. And when I could not take any more I hailed a taxi home and slept like the dead in our dark empty house at peace finally. Come morning I packed and tidied up the finishing touches on the house before heading into the centro with my bags to meet Catherine for brunch. Coffee and toast at a café, catching up and planning for next semester while reflecting on this one now past.

I had almost forgotten it is Christmas time. It is so warm and sunny here now and I'm lucky to never be around commercial Christmas propaganda being away in the field so much. I'll take it as a good omen though that my departure was accompanied by a wonderful send off of trumpets and horns, dressed up trucks with the Virgin Mary in relief, and cute children riding in the pickup dressed in Santa and elf costumes. Feliz Navidad through the streets! And so the procession went and the band played on as I watched on the curb with Catherine. Santa even gave us candy specifically. Gringos and children I suppose get all the privelages.

I'm flying to Quito and leaving for the States tomorrow. Cuenca to Quito to Houston to Vancouver to Chicago to Richmond. Split up over a couple days to catch up with friends in Vancouver two nights. I don't look forward to the flying but stepping off and arriving will make it all worth while, whether a few days or a month. There is nothing like returning home, to place, family, and friends after a long difficult journey far away. Maybe the heart grows fonder. Maybe we just begin to realize the things that matter most in life are simply being there.