The Desire to Stay Home

A quiet reading.

It was time for our annual journey to the Northeast to visit family.

We gave up driving some years ago after realizing that we were spending more time in the car than with the people we had traveled to see. Besides, we are getting too old for all of that driving.

So now we travel by air, even though flying is not easy for me. There is too much to be anxious about: missed connections, crowds of people, and food that costs far more than it should.

The trip to New Hampshire was filled with delays. First, there was a leak in the brake hydraulics. Then came a weather delay. Finally, a seat had to be replaced, which took more than an hour. Despite the five extra hours, everything turned out well.

I had more than enough time to watch the people around me. We were not all traveling to the same place, but we were all dealing with the same delays.

What impressed me most was how calmly people responded. We hear so much about passengers losing their tempers and causing scenes. I saw none of that. At least outwardly, people seemed to take everything in stride.

I handled the delays better than I usually do.

My complaints were not directed so much at the airline, the airport, or the people around me. What troubled me was the disruption of my routine. I noticed this even more when we returned home.

As I grow older, routine has become one of the simple pleasures of life.

I still do not like traveling by air, but I am less anxious about it than I once was. Leaving home has become harder—not because I desire to go less, but because I desire to stay more.

Perhaps growing older is teaching me something about home.

It is no longer simply the place from which I leave.

It is the place where I increasingly want to remain.