Back in the U.S.A.
I feel like a tourist in my own country. I have a difficult time understanding the accent. My heart raced as the vehicle I was in approached 75 miles per hour (I haven't gone that fast, not counting airplanes, in eight months) and I was at first bemused then bored by the orderly way people drive here. I constantly question in which language to say 'thank you' and 'sorry'. I am amazed by the manicured roadsides and lack of pollution.
The thirty-hour plane ride here was blissfully uneventful.
I look forward to being in a large crowd of people again. This time it will be the march for women's right to choose whether to carry a fetus in her body to full term. I think forcing a woman to remain pregnant against her own wishes is a most vile and hateful thing, causing harm to both her and the potential child she is carrying. Usually I don't do marches; usually I have better things to do. However our current president seems determined to take this right I grew up with away so I feel in response that I need to proclaim my pro-choice beliefs extra loud. I know this is a controversial and sensitive subject. I usually avoid this topic because it is the one area of my life where there is no room for discussion or compromise, thinking about either makes me quite upset.
I prefer to stay calm.