Here I am back in Athens. Again. My cold's almost over I think--much thanks to Airbourne, Cold-Eez and lots of hot tea!

I'm already stir crazy! I made myself stay inside all day today, drinking tea and watching a Roseanne marathon. Seriously. But I had to. Tomorrow there'll be several hours with my boss and I'll have wished I had rested today.

Maybe it's my freezing apt., or the effects of my virus, or the "come down" from a nice, long, hectic vacation, but whatever the case, I feel the need to restart my life more than ever. After a 2 year hiatus (on account of the agoraphobia--for real), I'm more than overdue to get my feet back on the road, my plane back on the runway, my ship back on the rolling seas. These eyes have seen the torches of Waikiki at twilight, the Eiffel Tower's searchlight in the evening, the blackness of Loch Ness at night, and the Irish Sea at mid-morning. I've been to Niagra Falls, the Statue of Liberty (ha ha and Cinders looked EXACTLY like her with an ice cream cone and a foam tiara!), both Disney World and Disney Land, the green hills of Vermont and the . . . pastures of cows in Alabama? (What else is there to say about Bama?) There was Vatican City and then David in Florence--that overnight train ride from France to Italy (again with Cinders--I THINK we saw the dark Alps looming outside the window). The white cliffs of Dover (we climbed the King Lear cliff), the Poconoes, the Natural Bridge of Virginia. I've been to Charleston, St. Augustine, Toronto (ooh! what wonders!) and braved Flint Michigan and Stuebenville Ohio. I had a life-altering "relationship-talk" on the banks of the Savannah River as drunken partiers urinated beside us on St. Patrick's Day. I want to do more and see more! How did I sit in one place for so long? The sickness was half of it, but another half was fear. It's hard to say goodbye, to people and places and things. A part of me hopes that when the time comes, I won't have to say goodbye. Maybe I'll just say, "See you later," and mean it. One never knows what the future holds. I can always come back some day.