Ahhhhhh.

It's so good to be home.

There's nothing like a week away to have me appreciating just about everything about home. Even the quirky and normally annoying aspects of island life ... the chaos of baggage claim taking more than an hour at 4am, subsequent power cuts, and a total dearth of yogurt available anywhere ... meld into the warm fuzzies of dogs happy to see us, the comfort of my own bed with a view, the loving embrace of friends and family, and everything else that spells H O M E.

Cj was so happy to find herself in familiar territory that she actually giggled when put down for her first nap back in her crib. Running her traditional trajectory from couch to couch to kitchen to toys to elephant to couch to couch to kitchen, etc., she spent the morning after our flight reintroducing herself to favorite rooms and objects, apparently just in case they'd forgotten the feel of her little fingers or the moisture content of drool.

Although determined to watch every single DVD purchased in Singapore on his behalf before he got as much as a few hours older, Sam did agree to put off vegging in front of the TV for a day and went for a romp at Grandma's instead. After a week of doing the city kid thing cruising malls and eating out, a day on the beach followed by a Granddad-cooked dinner really was the ticket.

(Turns out that nearly half the movies Mark bought for Sam are in Mandarin. Great. At least it makes little difference in the case of the three "Tom and Jerry" DVDs. Superman is a bit strange, however. He's taking it in stride, saying, "I love Chinese movies, Mom!"

Perhaps growing up having many of his TV programs in languages other than English have helped him be flexible.)

The flight home was tiring, as a 1:30 am departure means a lot of late night hanging around, but the kids were great. We let them run and run in the airport ... getting the wiggles out ... and both fell asleep during the taxi to takeoff and didn't wake up until we were landing. Perfect!

Of course, I'm back to a stack of work, but given the fact that I now know I'm bound to be around for a good while to enjoy my prospects I'm happy to jump in, sink up to my armpits, then work like heck to reach the point of being on top of it all.

Thanks to all of you who sent such wonderful wishes for my health, and put up with my reruns while I was away. I'm growing very fond of you, and I'm grateful for the surprising relationships that are building.

Life is grand!