I’m packed and ready for the bus ride home to Mexico. My suitcase is HEAVY – an a/c compressor, 10#’s of pasta, soap, vet supplies and books. I’m heavy too – sushi 5 times in 8 days and late night chocolate ice cream. Exercise has been shopping and a daily walk around the block with my 83 year old mother. I’m happy. I’m going home and home is Wally. I’m returning to stone-bordered, new-green vegetable gardens, my roof-top kitchen and bouganvillia-strewn veranda and the sound of chickens, windchimes and howling dogs. I have missed the tiny eco-system of people, plants and animals that depend on my love and whose love I depend on too. It’s my livliehood.

Mission accomplished here. I bring home a full, ready heart.