All That's Left is the Orange Hair

Be it ever so humble ... there's no place like home.

It doesn't matter if I'm gone hours, days or a week (I've never been gone longer than a week), I love coming home.

If I could have been granted one wish upon my return from our dance competition, it would have been to pack up one of our travel-mates (any one of them ... I loved visiting with each and every person in our group) and bring them home with me. I had become used to having a room-mate. I was going to be lonely. And I was. For about one minute.

I returned home from the airport with my family and since we had exchanged a brief update on the car ride and it was late at night ... we all drifted in separate directions.

As I reassembled my old life, I realized that it was a good thing that I no longer had a room-mate. I immerse myself in my little world. I indulge myself in all of my little idiosyncrasies (that would drive any mortal being crazy). My brain was so full, it was restful not to have any more new input. Amazingly, it was also very peaceful for me to stop the flow of my own words (I exhaust myself at times).

I unpacked and settled back into my life. It is a good fit.

Throughout the course of the day, two of my fake nails broke off. The nails were too long and cumbersome anyway but I had thought that I'd get my money's worth out of them and keep them up for a little while. But when the second one snapped off, I evened off the rest. My nails have been reinstated to a length that allows me to type and navigate a little better in the real world.

I have returned to my regularly scheduled life. Without the adornments of a ballroom dancer. All of the glitz and the glam have been washed off, worn off or broken off. The 'old me' is back. Until I look in the mirror and I still find the shock of seeing that brilliant orange hair.

The fairy tale world of princesses and ballgowns is a nice place to visit ... but I wouldn't want to live there. It is good to be back.

But until I have a chance to deal with the bright, orange highlights in my hair ... I still have a visual reminder of my Dance Adventure of 2010.