The Stars and the Cookie Jar

Before I close up the computer...

I am going home. It is not the easiest road I could have chosen; it is what I want.

roaming through this darkness, I'm alive but I'm alone/ and part of me is fighting it, but part of me is gone...

It is incredibly lovely, my home. And I'm older than when I left it, and tired of running. Much of what I ran from is everything that mattered.

Thank you to my store, my partners, my regulars, Simon, Nicole and Dave. Thank you to Jim and Nick's Barbecue for all the illicit brisket sandwiches. Thank you to Dr. Sullivan and Dr. Pennington.  Thank you to Sonya, Kraada, shirei_shibolim , rymenhild  and everyone for keeping me alive in the reaches of my exile.

You are all welcome to come and swim in my pool. I won't be there, however; I'll be off Galilee Beach, where the rocks look terrible, and the foam comes up to grasp at the sky.

I have been too long away from water; I have a need of water near.

And then the selkie stood, and picked up her pelt from where it had hung, so long, behind the door. She turned out the lights. She smoothed back her hair, gleaming black russet. She took a deep breath. O, great ocean; o, great sea. She took another deep breath, as if remembering the taste of the air, and how it likened to the taste of salt water.

HOME! I'M COMING HOME!

1. I'm home, and this is wonderful.

2. An unexpected three-second dip in cabin pressure during a storm blew a vein in my leg. I am flat on my back. I am in somuchgoddamnpain. (Apparently the spider bite led to phlebitis led to venous insufficiency led to...)

3. But screaming on a packed aircraft is really entertaining, and this means I have lots of time to play. Instead of rushing back to work, I am now absolutely off my feet except for the bathroom for the next ahahahaha ten days. The Company can kiss my leg.

4. In between the painful kuh-thump, kuh-thump of my heart, there's time for the click... click... click of refreshing at Milliways.

5. 2 Grams of antibiotics a day wheeee.

6. I'M HOME!