Reentry Blues

Reentry is an incredibly disorienting time for astronauts as the body is trying to adjust from the near weightlessness of orbit to the regular ol' forces exerted on us planet-side.

I am suffering from reentry today.  My sons and I reached home around midday, after nearly 24 hours of train travel.  Our sleep had been interrupted by some late-night boarders, who encamped near us and left their door open, so that the dulcet sounds of the two urchins in their group cut through our clickety-clack dreams.  We are also coming down from seven days of New Orleans style eating.  But the biggest shock to my system is the resumption of the everyday stresses I still haven't learned to handle.


So I'm going to have to ease back in.  I have unpacked, and begun some of the straightening up that I ran out of time for before leaving.  The three of us have spread out since returning, having endured over a week of enforced, and mostly enjoyable closeness.  But now we need our space.  And our familiar things, and activities.  


Tomorrow brings a forty-eight-hour date with my favorite three-year-old.  Tonight, I am going to make like a returning astronaut and get some extra rest before planning my next mission.