A New View of Boston

Yesterday we woke up at 4:00 am, our sense of time still upside down from jetlag. We decided to walk up the street to the Boston Harbor to watch the sunrise. This perspective on Boston is very different from what I’m used to, having spent most of my time in Massachusetts in Boston’s funkier neighboring city of Cambridge. Now we’re living in Charlestown, just a block from the Harbor Walk and our view is of the Boston city skyline. We’re practically on the Freedom Trail, with the Bunker Hill monument behind us, Old Ironsides out our front door, and the Lenny Zakim Bridge beside us. I’ve been practicing saying “Chaaahhhlstown” like a real Bostonian to embrace my new location in this familiar city.

When I left the States we lived in Vermont. Right out our back door were woods and every time we drove around the Upper Valley, I said aloud how fortunate we were to live in such a beautiful area. So much sky and so many trees and birds. Our cat Penguin loved looking out the windows at all of nature’s creatures and I worried for her that our new location in Boston would lack the liveliness of the home she had come to know. Those of you who know me well realize I sometimes project my own feelings onto Penguin. In fact, during business school I would dream that Penguin was creating excel spreadsheets and power point presentations. So Penguin is adjusting and so am I. I guess it is just a little odd to come back to a home that you haven’t yet lived in. It is both familiar and unfamiliar; comforting and disorienting all at the same time.

But part of the fun is making it home, and it is a luxury to have the time to settle in. I haven’t had a kitchen in over two months so simple things like cooking a meal is really fun. Coming back from a long trip is a unique transition time, and it is fascinating to notice what feels different and the ways the travel has changed me. I’m amazed when I step off the sidewalk in Boston and the cars stop to let me pass after the whizzing energy of all the traffic and motos in Hanoi, where we spent our last week. I hesitated to drink the water at the Other Side Café yesterday and then had to remind myself that it is safe to drink the tap water here. Just silly little things like that to notice…and deeper changes in perspective that take time to fully integrate.

I still have stories to share from Thailand & Vietnam - some big & some small - and more photos to post. All that soon…