I’m sitting in my sister’s house in Kansas City on a Friday night, listening to the train in the distance (last night I heard a great horned owl hooting in the backyard). In a way, I’m enjoying a respite from my travels: visiting family and friends, working, and hanging out without feeling the need to do much. In another sense, though, I’m still on 12 Cities, 1 Year, staying in yet another place where I don’t live. In a few days I’ll be back in Denver, and then we’ll fly back to the West Coast and start the slow trek down toward San Diego.

Today I had lunch with a high school friend whom I haven’t seen in 30 years. She’s fighting the good fight as a civil rights attorney for the Department of Education. I’m impressed by what she’s accomplished, but I’m also glad I’m not supervising 10 people. I’m glad I work for myself. As I told her, I never really liked having a job.

One of the great gifts this year keeps giving me is introspection. With each new city, each new exploration, I get to find out more about myself and what I really want. Some days it seems I’m still living the old life, still exploring and blogging about it, still copyediting. Other days, life seems completely different than it did six months ago.