Spaceflight has shown that reentry is the most dangerous part of a flight. More people have died on re-entry than during launch. And even in uncrewed flights, there have been a lot of mishaps on reentry.

My reentry to normal life didn’t really have the risk of a fiery burn-up, though, had I not gotten enough sleep, a fire and crash was distinct personality.

After leaving my friend’s house I drove for another hour or two before getting some food and then eventually some sleep. I ended up pulling over at two separate rest stops to nap. The final time I woke up around 9:00 AM. I had hoped for an earlier start since I was still about 9 hours from home. But obviously my body needed the sleep.

There’s not much to report on the rest of the drive home other than I was struck by how green things were in the Northeast. Partly this was due to it being Spring and in the weeks I was gone a lot had bloomed. But also, I had been in the desert for so long which is a lot of reds and oranges and whites and grays, but very little green. The contrast was striking.

But the danger was a bit more subtle. It’s one thing to basically spend two weeks with no schedule and no responsibilities. It’s another to return those things. Here it is Saturday, and I’m still catching up. Laundry is done and half the car is unpacked. I’ve still got more to go. That said, it’s not like I haven’t been doing things. I spent most of yesterday dealing with paperwork related to starting school in a month.

And as strange as it sounds, Wednesday night/Thursday morning, I picked up a 4 hour “princess shift” in the Emergency Department from 3:00 AM to 7:00 AM. Based on the texts requesting help and looking at schedule, there were only 3 other techs scheduled so I knew they could use the help. I figured my sleep schedule was already messed up, so another late night/early morning wouldn’t be a problem. And honestly, it sort of helped me reenter my normal life.

At this point I have four regularly scheduled shifts left before I stop working as a .6 FTE tech. I will probably pick up one or two more during that time. But the time is quickly coming when I’ll be in that transition from working to schooling. I’ll have a couple of weeks to finish up projects around the house, sign a lease on a place in Delaware, and to move enough down there to setup housekeeping. So, my reentry is just a pause before the next journey. But I think I’m ready now.