Reentry Shock...it will get ya!

I can honestly admit that this journey back home has been a challenging one. I am trying to slide right back into my "old" life and "old" routines but I'm finding it rather difficult. I have my ups and downs but I'm trying to live with the outlook that when the future seems overwhelming, remember that it comes one moment at a time.

It was difficult to jump off the plane-rush home-and head off to the hospital to see my papa as he was getting out of open heart surgery. The first few hours and days were hard to get through physically and emotionally. Suffering  from major jet lag (sleeping for 3 hours at a time leaves one cranky girl) and also the stress of life in the States made things even harder. Not to mention the shock of driving on the right hand side of the road again! It is amazing what little things in life you take for granted and don't think twice about. You go someplace where your world is flipped upside down and you learn a new way of doing things and when you return "home" your "old" routine becomes foreign.

After my first night home and many trips back and forth to the hospital I headed up to Muncie (Ball State) to organize my life for next semester and see everyone I had missed for the past three months. During my stay I spent some quality time with Alex, had a fun time with some girl friends at the mall, went out to dinner a few times, scheduled all of my classes for fall semester, enjoyed my time at the rock wall, made it to a cookout, and even had the time to see my Aussie family at a get together on my last night.

By the end of my stay I was feeling a little ill so I headed home and stopped off at a med check just to get cleared for my visit to see Papa in recovery. I found out that I was indeed sick and could not safely go visit the hospital until I was feeling better. I had a soar throat (strep test came back negative) and had a throat sample sent off to the lab for testing. Also have been having body aches, headaches, trouble sleeping, and nausea. All symptoms I was told will go away with some R&R. Not exactly what I was hoping for but at least it wasn't anything serious.

It has now been a week since I have been home and a week since the major surgery and life is starting to settle down. Papa is in recovery and having more positive days than negative...I am getting better at sleeping as well as recovering from being sick. Even though I still miss Australia, I am starting to get use to being back in good old Indiana. Trying to stay positive and tell myself that one day...Ill make it back to the Land Down Unda!