So, I went to California, and I got back a week ago, and I haven't really succeeded in my goal of writing down some of my favorite or most moving moments of the trip, so I'm beginning to think I might not. Instead of the full posts I'd been envisioning, I want to capture the overall arc of my vacation, which started with me feeling somewhat out of sorts with myself, and ended up with me feeling much more settled in an important way:

On Thursday afternoon, I spent an hour sitting in the sun of the Berkeley farmer's market, with a curious-but-content baby on my lap, listening to folksy buskers and having delicious, juicy produce delivered to me by an industrious toddler and his adult-in-tow. It was one of the most do-nothing hours of my vacation in a curious way, and filled me up with quiet contentment that I love and have been missing.

On Friday evening, I attended a completely fantastic party, during which I would say I grazed more than settling in at any point, and somehow, along the way, reminded myself in a way that carried not only intellectual weight but emotional weight, that I like the path I'm on.

So, there was a lot of other good stuff, because vacation is better than not-vacation, but I brought some good, important things back with me.