Whoa.

After a 12-hour flight, an overnight stay in New York and a 7-hour drive in the snow, we have finally arrived at the Cape. I am way too bombed to feel much of anything except a craving for sleep and a few hours’ respite from parenthood. Within an hour or so of our arrival, a magnetic force drew me into my parents’ bedroom, the room where my mother died. Some of her things are still on the nightstand from when she was sick. Her teddy bear, Ralph, is still sitting on her setee. I didn’t expect her to be there, but the need for her, to tell her everything, was so immense I crawled onto her side of the bed and cried into her sheets.

Our arrival home was pretty anticlimactic; everyone has been busy with their own thing so there were no major fireworks or surprise parties planned to herald our arrival. My in-laws were happy to see us (Well, Yonah, really. They put up with us to get to him) and my stepdaughters, of course, are thrilled to have the other half of their family back.

Okay, beyond exhausted. Will write more tomorrow.