The Number Field

We endured a long journey from England to the USA just in time for Thanksgiving, and haven't been heard from since. Even though we didn't land on Plymouth Rock, we still felt like pilgrims. There isn't too much to say about the flight. Roman and Elena fussed a normal amount, but at least on the long transatlantic leg of the flight Roman had his own seat and was finally appeased by Monsters, Inc. Sitting on the other side of the plane, I used one of my sneakiest tactics to get Elena to take a nap: when I knew she was tired but wouldn't fall asleep on her own, I answered 'no' to her pleas to borrow my iPhone and play games until she got upset enough that she started crying, which was quickly followed by her falling asleep. It wasn't a long nap, but she needed it; by the time we made it to our destination, my parents' house, we had been traveling for about eighteen hours.

Since then we've been doing all those things that have to be done to get a new home up and running again. At Thanksgiving, we were thankful for wonderful friends that allowed us to invite ourselves to their excellent Thanksgiving feast. We're also thankful for my parents and their willingness to let us stay in their spacious home for as long as we needed, and for our brother-in-law Sam who came out very late last Friday to help us move boxes from a storage unit into our new townhouse. We've been here a week now, and although there are still boxes everywhere, things in the home are starting to take shape. It's the same way in our personal and social lives--we've already met some new friends and found the playgrounds near here, and Jenny has started to enjoy the hunt of of exploring the local thrift shops in search of the things we need, but don't want to commit to buying new. We don't know what's in store for us in the short-to-medium term future, but it looks like there are two likely paths: if things turn out one way, we might continue to follow our wanderlust and head back to England, and if they go differently we're likely to be looking to put down roots and buy a house. No matter what, we'll be savoring the company of family and friends this holiday season, just as the pilgrims did.