Home!

A week’s lesson in patience, two uneventful flights and slightly annoying (but very short) stop in Loki* later, we’re finally back home in Lopitland.
(*I’m sorry, I really hate Loki. To me, Loki is where malaria is born. And where dust lives. And the breeding ground of a whole host of other evils. I, um, might not be giving Loki a fair shake. Forgive me.)
Flying over so much nothingness makes you realize how we really are in the middle of nowhere. Then our pilot buzzed around the horseshoe of our mountain range; Kim and I had our noses pressed to the windows. It’s so cool, to see our little villages from the air—outlines of the compounds, the haphazard lines of the peanut fields, the funny cone roofs.
We carried entirely too much up the mountain, but were rewarded when we got home—Pattie had made us special lemonade and put seats under our tired bodies. She even had the whole inside of the house poohed while we were gone! In a word—amazing.
Our neighbors were excited to have us home, too. It just made my heart happy to shake their hands and smile with them. I really enjoy being home.
In a related story, it’s officially Christmas season in Lopit. I put up the lights just as soon as my tired body would let me. Then, unfortunately, I proceeded to fall backward off the stool I was hanging them from. My first thought was, “Oh, please, Lord, tell me I didn’t break anything. Steve would absolutely kill me. And I’m in no mood to wait for another flight.”
But, no worries. I’m OK. :)