Life After Vacay (Or, What's Old Is Old Again...Kinda)

We just got home from a fabulous trip to Puerto Rico.  We stayed at the lovely Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resort and Spa, and we had a terrific time.  First, look at the pictures, because I know you want to.  THEN, keep reading for my whole point to this blog.  See you on the other side!

View from my beach lounger

View from my pool lounger

El Yunque National Rainforest

Luke in front of 500 year old canon balls at La Fortaleza in Old San Juan



"Our" beach



I just love that some of the time the view looks like this...



 

...And some of the time it looks like this!



Old San Juan

 

My guys on the beach



Getting ready for our Bacardi tour

In El Yunque



And now, for the rest of the story...

We were driving to the airport on a route we hadn't yet taken, and I began to get a sense of the mourning that usually comes with the end of vacation.  First of all, I'm a Pisces, which means I'll do just about anything to escape reality.  And as good as reality is back home, I seriously began to think about all the times I hear people bemoan things like, "Back to reality..." with a mournful cry that suggests they'd rather be anywhere but home. 

So what is it that makes people feel that way? (Besides the obvious...see above pics!)

For me, having committed myself to lifelong learning as a teacher (and, as a goofball who's been pretty much continuously enrolled at one college or another since 1995), I fully believe that any good experience is bound to change a person at her very core. 

Having said that, it's really pretty odd to go someplace new, find yourself changed, and then return to "life as normal," particularly when your sense of normal is now irrevocably changed, because you are irrevocably changed as a person.

I'm still trying to reconcile myself to it all.  Am I happy to be back, or not?  Good question!  I do know I'm ready to go again at just about any time.  :)