I finally made it to Portland, landed at 11:52 am and I have never been so grateful to get off an airplane. My mom came and found me in the baggage claim, and we both giggled and cried at seeing each other after seven months of distance. On getting home, I took a shower, ate a big salad made mostly of ingredients from my parents’ garden and went blueberry picking on Sauvie Island with my mom. Standing in the gentle Oregon light, the breeze gently rattling the branches of the bushes, eating sun-warmed raspberries and blueberries, it became hard to remember why I ever left.