Back home

I’m back home. I have been for a while, but I was a bit foggy yesterday. I have this jet lag thing figured out going to England, but it still hits me coming back this way. Tip for traveling east: avoid the red eye flights if you can help it. Thanks for all your prayers for us. We had a good visit with Dad. Kevin and I laughed a lot, and Dad seems pretty happy overall. It’s not an ideal situation for him at all. He was found collapsed in the courtyard late one night, according to a neighbor, and it takes him 15 minutes to climb a flight of stairs. It’s hard to leave him like that, but we also don’t have a lot of options either. He’s in good health for an 84-year-old man who lives alone, and would be just fine if he would accept the help that is available to him. It’s funny. For years we prayed that God would take away his bitterness. This prayer has now mostly been answered. We just never figured it would happen through dementia. I guess you have to be careful what you pray for. Still no signs of spiritual openness. Kevin and I had a great time together. We now have an extensive collection of quotes, spoken by Dad and by us, that will keep us laughing for some time. It’s pretty rare to be able to spend a week with a brother, and I’m lucky that it’s happened twice now. Also great to be welcomed home by family. I joked that I’m going to hire somebody on the Heathrow side to hold out a sign with our names and cheer when we arrive. Other random notes:

• We had two of the worst landings I’ve experienced. We hit the ground hard when we arrived at Heathrow. On Sunday, we landed in Toronto in a windstorm. I’ve never before heard the crew breathlessly remind everyone where the emergency exits are seconds before landing, but we made it.
• I know you’re not supposed to rave about British food, but it’s come a long way from bangers and mashed potatoes and fish and chips. We enjoyed some amazing Indian food and also had a great (and affordable) steak dinner at Sticky Fingers in London.
• I love England. I want to live there one day.
• It’s sad but the strangers I end up meeting and chatting up all end up being middle aged. Not sure how this happened since there was a day I used to tend to meet younger people. I’ll have to look in the mirror one day and see if anything has changed.
• Photos are here.

It’s good to be home.