A Happy Return to Rio

It was weird to come back to Rio this week; it didn't feel as hectic, frazzled, loud, smelly, and confused as it felt when I left. My husband, on the other hand, was having a BRioD. (A bad Rio day) when he picked us up at the airport which didn't take away from the happiness of finding each other all together again. And I know BRioDs well, so no need to say sorry to me, honey. It was nice to come home and realize that I was coming home, not back to "that country I have to live in, but can't wait to get back home" home.

Not that anything has changed in the 12 days I've been gone, the path to the beach is still covered in dog shit, and the traffic is still insane. But thank goodness for Conceicao, my happy-always-smiling cleaning lady who showed up to deal with my mountain of post-holiday laundry and a sunny, slightly windy, fresh day to ease back into the groove of things. I rode my bike to drop the kid at school who was a little reluctant to rejoin class. As I walked away from the school, I heard the whole class cheer a loud warm welcome to my boy who apparently was away too long in toddler time. I ran into two friends on the way home and caught up with them and got my own cheerful welcome back. When I picked up the kid at lunch, Miss Carla, his teacher told me that the boy had told her he was not interested in Canada anymore, and that he liked Brazil better! Distance makes the heart grow fonder, right?

By the afternoon, I became dizzy from exhaustion, I guess I haven't gotten over the long sleepless night spent sitting upright in an airplane torture chair with a man snoring next to me, and another with serious armpit odor in front of me. Cartoons to the rescue! And I went to bed for a sweet 20 minutes until the boy got sick of the television and came to jump on my face. At least I had recuperated enough to head out to replenish the empty fridge.

The stars must have been aligned because a million things were due to go wrong on my short trip to the market, which usually happens on a typical Rio day, but didn't. I didn't get stuck in traffic for 20 minutes 2 blocks from the store while the kid screamed for a box of raisins I didn't bring. I didn't forget my pin number for my credit card. I didn't get charged for parking, thankfully, because I had forgotten to get cash from the bank and generally parking only takes cash. I didn't run out of gas before getting to the gas station. With no cash to tip the attendant, I found that the station had a bank machine that worked with my card and gave me money. The teller took my large bill without complaining and gave me change. The charge went through, I tipped the attendant and didn't hit any random traffic jam on my way home. THAT WAS AMAZING and a very un-BRiod.

After a quick play in the playground, a messy homemade pizza dinner, a glass of wine and running after a wet toddler through the house with a towel, I crashed into bed. I'm back. I'm home.