immigrant song.

A day full of automobiles, planes and buses, et voila! I find myself right back where I started from, just over 2 weeks ago.

I've just returned to my home in Santa Barbara, and was pleased to find a few of my daily standards in stock: crunchy natural peanut butter and rice cakes. A few weeks' worth of binge holiday eating and plenty revelrous drinking has landed me what feels and looks to be a few pounds heavier, to the extent that, by the end of my stay in the TCs, the only jeans I'd bother with were those partially composed of god's gift to holiday overeaters, spandex. So returning to my rudimentary kitchen and simplified diet comes as a relief.

As you might imagine, my return is bittersweet. The time spent in MN/WI/IL was really a blessing. I'm amazed, perhaps now more than ever, by the abundance of amazing people in my life, both friends and family members. Perhaps they're easier to appreciate now that I no longer live in the area, partially because the old adage is true, and absence does make the heart grow fonder, but also because I'm much happier with my life now, and I feel more inclined to focus on good things, rather than wallowing in the darkness and despair that always seemed to characterize my existence whilst living in Minnesota.

Mother Nature was kind to me during my stay in the north country. I don't think temps dropped much below 30 for the entire 2 weeks I was there, and, being a native, I can easily recognize how featherweight that is for the holiday season. There were only a few days of nearly-plan-altering weather conditions, and my mind easily re-assimilated to that of a Minnesotan in the winter, enjoying the mild weather, the easy driving, the diminished need for layering. I even caught myself thinking that it really wasn't all that different from here in Cali, where nighttime temps will sometimes bottom out in the 30s, that Cali only has a bit more sun. I think I'd really almost convinced myself of this, and maybe it was as transparent a coping mechanism as has ever existed. Of course today I came to my senses when I landed at LAX, and exited the plane onto the tarmac, and it was not only sunny, but warm to boot, and not Minnesota-in-December warm, but mid-60s California-coast warm.

More than the temperature though, something else caught my attention upon landing in Santa Barbara. It was something I'd always remember in the springtime in Minnesota, but its sheer absence causes a form of amnesia in the wintertime. When I walked out of the airport this afternoon, when I walked outside, I could actually smell things, and I don't really know what things, but I could smell the outside.

And that's different. No matter how warm the winter in Minnesota.