Back home - just in time to go nowhere

I am home after two months in Philadelphia, just in time for our wedding anniversary and my birthday. We’re not sure what those celebrations will look like, or if we’ll make future plans for them. Curious, I checked to see if Christmas in July started because of a stay-at-home order. It did not.

Spouse made my return home extra special. He had appetizers, dinner and dessert ready when we got home, along with the cutest welcome home decorations. He was even on time picking me up at the airport, which is quite a feat for a guy who normally thinks a 5 p.m. arrival means he should be jumping in the shower at 4:45.

I missed the colors of Maine. It may be early seasonally, but compared to city life our street is a giant Crayola box. Sorry, but I'm not sorry I missed the last two snowstorms.

However, Mother Nature’s "look but don’t bask" strategy during my first week home included every April shower that had missed the boat. There was one glorious day of sunshine and temps in the low 60s – my version of the way life should be. I left my desk for a short while and stood in our backyard, soaking up the sun and taking deep breaths of fresh air. It would be the only sun I would see for several days. Welcome back to Maine and Mud Season. I should have stayed outside for a few hours instead of a few minutes.

I've lived in this house for over 20 years and it took me two months to forget the simplest things, like where we keep the coffee filters or the vegetable peeler, or how a decent night’s sleep is often interrupted by the din of Spouse and a cat snoring in off kilter harmony.

I also forgot how long I have to wait for the hot water to kick in, how quickly every piece of clothing I wore could become a cat fur magnet, and how it was just a dream that I had a decent wardrobe to come home to.

I am adjusting to sharing a bathroom again and having a cat climb on me while I’m working. It’s pretty great to be back to my bed, my standing freezer, and my laundry detergent. It doesn’t make me materialistic to prefer using an electric can opener instead of a hand crank, does it?

Spouse and I hoped to take a mini-vacation to celebrate this year of our 60^th birthdays. Instead, he spent his March birthday working and cooking for himself while I stayed with Second Born post-surgery. I flew home last week, so I’ll spend our anniversary and my birthday self-quarantining with the best of them. Maybe we should have celebrated our 60^th birthdays a year ahead.

Our anniversary might be spent binging on NCIS reruns over takeout, or I may be able to get him hooked on The Great British Baking Show. What matters is that we’ll celebrate together, maybe now or maybe later, just like Christmas in July.