A globalized world
is good and bad.
It is nice, convenient, awe-inspiring
to walk into an airport, get on a plane
and in twelve hours or less
be on another continent
a quarter or even halfway around the world.
It is wondrous, love-filled, amazing
to be with family and friends
to immerse in another culture
to see things few around you do
Often I am the goer
This time I am the stayer
And while I do not begrudge the trip
I find the last 24 hours before the return
To be
the longest
Measured not in the chimes on the clock (each 15 minutes after the last)
Measured not in advertisements on the TV (each 10 minutes after the last)
Measured not in enemies killed in video game battles growing ever more boring with each death
But in the moment by moment anticipation
(sweet torture, that)
Of the moment when the waiting is done.
