Well then

I wouldn't be surprised if all of our readers had given up on us entirely by this point -- and who'd blame you?! But I've been feeling as though our blog is unfinished, and wanted to put it to bed.

So: we've been back in the US for almost two weeks, and life is the same and yet entirely different post-trip. There are some aesthetic changes (a new rug and some elephant-themed pillow covers in the sunroom, a fancy new duvet set on the bed) and some differences in routine (a lot more chai in our lives and four packages of paratha in the freezer), but for me the biggest shift has been one in mindset.

In a lot of ways, or trip feels as though it was one part reality, two parts crazy dream. I refrained from getting too personal on this blog, but it was my first time seeing my Dad (and many, many members of my extended family) in sixteen years. I left Karachi 100 lifetimes ago -- before Smith, before Chicago, before I found a man (and a career!) that I love. And yet as so much has changed in my own life, I found that many things -- though not all -- had stayed the same over there. Over the last few weeks, it was incredibly gratifying to have the opportunity to rediscover the city I grew up in. As someone who's always prided herself on her independent ways, I also loved being able to introduce Nick to my humongo extended family. We've agreed: it's nice to know there's a gang of people on the other side of the world who've got our backs.

Finally, there was a tremendous, unexpected corollary benefit to this trip. I had untold amounts of down time (as you may have guessed from the number of blog posts that appeared here) and it allowed me and Nick to just...hang out in jammies. Read magazines. Play Scrabble. Talk. We slowed down and enjoyed each other's company in a way that, sadly, probably hasn't happened since our dating days. Even as the demands of real life creep back upon us here in Racine, we're committed to keeping the TV off and some of the extraneous things at bay, just so we can keep getting in front of each other in a real way, just as we did while we were on vacation.

So now, what's next for the Traveling Pittses? This is another tough question. Pakistan is far, far away (REALLY far) and American working culture sports a real distaste for anything resembling true vacation time. We're both committed to going back in the future, but nobody knows when, exactly, that will be -- which is a bit sad in and of itself. So the ol' blog is going into hibernation for a bit (although I think you should all try and convince Nick to share his parting thoughts as well). We were shocked and humbled by all the people who confessed to following along, and owe a huge thank-you to the people who kept track of our comings and goings this past holiday.

Happy New Year!

We're back home in the USA, unpacking and catching up with family and making lots of time to snuggle with the dog. If you'll hang in there, we still have a few more posts left in us. Stay tuned...