The Return of the Gabi

“I’ve been away, but I must say,
That home looks good to me.”

So ends the story of Captain Kitty, a favorite book of mine as a child. In the story, Captain Kitty gathers up a couple friends and sails to the South Seas, looking for adventure and all things exotic. They dine on strange food, meet friendly natives, and watch pearl divers… and then they return home. After countless readings in my early years, the last lines have become something of a family saying.

I now find myself, as many times in the past, in the place of my dear Captain Kitty. I have been far away, off on an adventure, experiencing the new and the strange… It was fun. I’ll miss walking down cobbled streets, through parks, and past the Russian Orthodox cathedral and the flower market. I’ll miss deciphering a strange language and seeing new sights and tasting new foods. I’ll even miss the acrid city smell.

But home does look good to me. There is something eminently right about it. It is somehow more real, making the previous weeks look like a hazy dream. The sound of the air conditioner running, the feel of the oriental rug, the old clock still ticking away on the wall, the dog sleeping at my feet… and, of course, all of my family here in the same place. Somehow this just seems the way things ought to be. Riga was an aberration. A fun aberration, but one nonetheless.