michellejunot.com Translating Twenty-Five

Going Home: Better Late than Never

Day 19: December 30

Brace yourself. It’s another day with Delta.

But this time, you’re too forlorn to make detailed notes about the experience. Because vacation’s over. It’s time to get back to all those things you’re avoiding back in Baltimore. It’s time to go home. Back to real life.

But remember, that’s joyous! You like Baltimore. (Even if you’ve yet to convince your landlord the value of a dog.)

You drag your feet through the airport like a pouting child, willing your four-hour layover to move quickly. It declines.

In the meantime, you continue with the email and hard drive clean up you’ve been pursuing all week.

You come across a folder labeled “for the blog.” You remember this as the folder you’ve been putting stuff in for the blog. You open it and realize that you’ve been slacking. You haven’t posted any of this stuff. And really, it’s not so much “stuff” as it is “photos that made you laugh.”

Whelp, better late than never, right?

Photo of Baltimore Roads
This is how our lanes are repainted in Baltimore. I’m in the correct part of the “old lane” at a stop light. When I go, I have to jump over to those newly painted lines. Yeah, okay.

I'm concerned for our future.
Wait. What? I’m concerned for our future.
Handwritten Sign
That handwritten sign says:
Urgent. 12 Students from Spain need hosts.
Now call me overly cautious…but this doesn’t seem like the best way to find hosts for guests of our country. Something seems amiss.
So I had ants. And I don't like ants. So I bought traps to kill ants. But then I got home and read the directions and these diagrams paired with the dramatic CAPSLOCK made me feel a little guilty. See, the food is carried back to the nest...wait for it...TO DESTROY THE ENTIRE COLONY! I mean, come on Raid. Is that necessary?
So I had ants. I don’t like ants. So I bought traps to kill ants. When I got home and read the directions, however, the diagrams paired with the dramatic CAPSLOCK made me feel a bit guilty about murdering these creatures. Because, as you can read above, the food is carried back to the nest…wait for it…TO DESTROY THE ENTIRE COLONY! Come on Raid. Is that necessary? (Related: this product works really well.)
So simple, and yet, I laugh.
So simple, and yet, I laugh.
Image of popcorn package
Step two gets me every time. Just look how happy that cartoon man is listening to his popcorn.

Translation: Twenty-five is going home and dealing with real life and laughing at ridiculous things on the way. And realizing, at 10,000 feet, that you could be more. Much more. Because Twenty-five is more than “better late than never.” It’s showing up, ready to go.  It’s being grateful for another day, another chance, to do something with your time. Your talent. Your mistakes.

Twenty-five is all that. Plus popcorn.

Going Home
Going Home

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Writer’s Note: This post is part of a larger series called “Learning Twenty-Five.”