By the numbers

It has been 13 months since I found myself on a plane to Miami, chatting with a toe-sock inventor and feeling pretty darn sad and nervous. 13 months since I was at the airport with my dad, listening to him rant about his treatment by the French on his visit to Paris ("I'm going to learn French and show those assholes!"). 13 months since I surrendered my cellphone to Eliza (and 12. 5 months since she dropped it in the toilet), 13 months since I shared one last cup of coffee in Clementine with Joey and L. Coco, closing an epic season of coffee shop adventures, 13 months since I saw so many friends and family, since I watched something stupid on MTV while I sunk ever deeper into the recliner, and 13 months since I had one last Chango's taco.

In those 13 months, I've kept pretty busy. I've crossed the Argentina-Chile border 7 times (but only once been harrassed to explain what the heck is a frisbee in front of all my co-travelers). I've learned and forgotten Chilean slang used nowhere else in the world. I've lived in 5 places and stayed for a while in plenty more. I've been invited to the table of people I barely know (a decision oft regretted once they saw how much this Loomis likes to eat). I've celebrated Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day, my birthday, Saint Patrick's Day, 4th of July, Halloween and Thanksgiving, not to mention 25 de Mayo, Dia del Amigo and Dia de la Primavera. On plenty of those holidays, I've been homesick. I don't know the number of calls to the U.S., but it surely wasn't enough. I've taught approximately 350 English classes and a couple of cutting, gluing and coloring classes disguised as English classes. I've made wonderful friends from Argentina, Texas, Chile, Germany and Chicago, and one enemy from New Jersey. I've read 32 books, written 3 songs (weak, Joey, I know), and become a fan of 2 soap operas.

And now, on Thursday morning, after 13 months and 2 days with my feet in South America, I will step back onto American soil! And for as much as I've changed in this year, surely everything else has too. My dad probably has a few more gray hairs, my mom a few more highlights, my bro some new t-shirts and my sis a new boyfriend. Everybody's got new jobs and is living in houses I've never visited, there's a new president-elect and a Hey Cupcake! on Burnet Road.

It's been 13 months... and I am so ready for a visit home. Stock up the Honey Bunches of Oats, bean and cheese tacos and Nada Chicken subs, I'm on my way!