Business of a returning traveler

It took somewhere around ten seconds to feel back at home in Växjö.  With an enormous smile, and the kind of hug only old friends can have, I arrived in the city.  It was a scene I had imagined for months.  Hours later I joked with Joacim that I would wake up very worried and confused about where I was.  

I had sat on the Oresund train from Copenhagen for 3 hours watching the lush green landscape pass.  I have dreamt that train ride numerous times since leaving Sweden last summer.  So what was to say this time wasn’t another dream?  

The reality of where I am is still sinking in.  I walk around Storgatan, the main shopping street in the city’s center, and soak in every sense I can.  The constant smell of rain is different from other humid areas.  Like California has its own version of moist scent, the rain soaked roads of Växjö give off a specific smell that I could not dream.  I must seem like fool, walking around the city, breathing deeply, then baring a full mouthed smile.  The nostalgia, the deep hearted beauty, the grand feeling of being back in this city,  I am lost in my mind with memories and hopes.  

The train passed by as I sat and watched people enter Resecentrum.  This train station has seen some of my saddest moments, and happiest journeys.  Commuters stream onto the platforms, and walk up a staircase I clumsily climbed 20 months ago for the first time.  

Business of a returning traveler is simple.  Find the areas that have not changed and cherish them. Take note of the places that have changed and scrutinize.  Then speak to every person you know that is still around.  It isn’t that I missed every person individually, though I did miss many of them.  But it is more the entirety of being gone that makes you appreciate returning.  A single moment relived in a city you love holds an immeasurable amount of wonder.  It takes little more than the first sight of a park.  A glance of the buildings you frequented can bring a lightness not unlike flying.  It is the stomach drop of the previously known.  The elation of nostalgia stirring with reality.  Euphoria consuming senses, and an enlightenment shaken with tense wishes of old friends.  I sip this cocktail constantly today, as I did yesterday.  Best in a low, wide glass so not to spill.

The morning after my arrival I left my bed with a day bag packed and a pocket of kroner to spend.  The Swedish sun welcomed me wonderfully.  I appreciate you, solen shiner of the north. And it feels damn good to be back.