And We've Landed. . .

After 36 hours of traveling, with a little shopping and chatting and a few coffees in between, we are officially IN Ottumwa!! Emma was a trooper and crashed at 8pm last night! A few funny and not so funny things:
1. Halfway to Ottumwa we pulled into a gas station and Kevin said, "Wow. It's going to be weird to pump my own gas."
2. Since driving here, we've both run through a few stop signs and I seriously considered just holding Emma on my lap for the last few minutes of the trip, not because she was cranky, but because kids don't normally use seatbelts where we live.
3. I almost cried while standing in the children's section of Barnes N' Boble. I could read every single book and I wanted to buy hundreds of them for Emma.
4. I just stared in awe at my older sister and younger brother as they talked. I held my newest nephew and listen to him grunt. I sat in the home of one of my dearest friends and watched her and another friend talk and I thought, "Is this real? Have I really been gone for the last 8 months?" Maybe it was all a dream and I'll be back again next week for another playdate. It feels so normal and yet so distant. I want the normalcy to remain. I don't want to think about leaving next week.
5. I'm a tad bit terrified that I'll clog whatever toilet I flush my toilet paper down. Seriously, I mean, I know it's supposed to go down, but what if it doesn't???
6. I'm abnormally happy when the toilet paper does go down and I don't have to explain to anyone what happened:)
7. Driving on the interstate highway and even the streets of our old town has just been really pleasant (except when I was in a hurry and I wanted to drive around a slow person and realized I couldn't).
8. The realization that I really do fit here has been warming to my heart. I do fit here, not like I used to and not because this is "my" town, but because people I love and people who love me are here. Knowing that, I guess a little bit of me fits in a lot of places.
9. I'm just so very happy to be here. I love the smell of the cold winter. I love the sight of Emma playing with other little kiddos. I love seeing familiar faces and giving real, I-missed-you-soooo-very-much type hugs.
10. I saw my eye doctor and dentist already today. I've never been so happy to have great vision and clean teeth.
11. Starbuck's really does make a pretty darn good Americano. Then again, Kristen makes some pretty darn good coffee too!
12. The first stop when we drove into the Big O was WalMart. Yep, good ole Wally World. I told you I was having dreams about the store. Well, it didn't disappoint! I just grabbed a few little goodies and we were out in less than 15 minutes. I enjoyed it though.
13. We have a great host and hostess and we were in bed at a great time last night. We slept hard. I just laid in bed smiling, knowing that for the next 3 weeks, I'm going to get to enjoy people!!
14. I'm still thinking about how to explain some things in Portuguese. Then I catch myself and remember that people really can understand every word I say, even if I say weird words and improper English. That makes me really really happy!

Until later. . .