Hello readers & fellow travelers,
I have been home from Cancun, Mexico for almost one month now -I returned on May 8th! Although it seems like I just got back yesterday as I am only now able to write about my homecoming and how it feels to be back.
I came back into a whirlwind of events in my family as my older sister is getting married this summer! So I pretty much landed, got home, slept, kind of settled in the next day and got swept away into a weekend full of activities: soon to be brother in laws birthday/hockey playoffs, a daylong reunion with my best friend, more hockey (and a devastating let down by the Leafs) and so on.
As the days and weeks have gone by, a few notable things stood out in contrast to my life in Cancun: it’s sooooooooooo quite here, I’m pretty sure I slept like the dead (until 2pm or so) for oh maybe a week, also MY BED/PILLOWS = HEAVEN, everything was much faster, more urgent, so many people to “answer” to in a way i.e. not instantly replying to texts or answering calls and having 20 more messages saying “why aren’t you answering? where are you? ” etc when I was so used to being phoneless or less reliant on it in Cancun., the stark contrast of really being alone, no roommate, no longer seeing my friends everyday at school, or having an adventure each weekend no matter what! Sad times!
Of course, while I was away there were certainly quite a few times I was really missing home, my family, friends, Canada, etc. and wanted to come back. There were many things that were frustrating and upsetting for me, some were cultural differences, some just general annoyances, like efficiency, professionalism, common courtesy and the like but now that I am on the other side, I find myself missing my a lot of people and things from my other “home” in Cancun. Like the saying goes, you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone.
It’s obviously great being home surrounded by family and friends but there are things I had there I can’t have here (yet) like living on my own/with a really awesome roommate (only one of two unfortunately) only being a student and not working i.e. only worries being when I finish my assignments to be free to do as I please!, being completely self reliant and independent (my mom LOVES doing my laundry again! despite my protests)
However, I am grateful for the amazing 126 days I spent living in glorious Cancun, the fabulous (and not so fabulous) people I encountered along the way, and all of the experiences I had because they all taught me something, about myself, about others and about life.
Thanks to everyone that made my trip amazing and I promise I will be putting up more pictures soon! (only have about 5000 to sift through! no big deal!)
Last thought that comes to mind, a sweet quote from a book I highly recommend “The 7 virtues of a Philosopher Queen” by Barbara Stegemann (Canadian Author!) that I started thinking of when the going got tough …”everyone in this life is either to teach or to bear”
Mel
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