I’m officially back from Australia.

It’s a bit strange, really. I had two fantastic weeks away, and now that I’m back, I’m realizing that this place really doesn’t feel like home anymore. It was kind of surreal stepping off the plane and having to remind myself that this is where I started my journey.

I need a change. A serious change. I’m not happy where I’m at right now, and its past time I moved out, stood on my own once more, and faced my life.

I’ve known this for a while, but have never had it driven home quite as sharply as after getting back from Australia this time. I can honestly say that this last trip was a bit of an eye opener into myself in many ways… and a trip I am not likely to forget anytime soon.

Even more surreal at the moment though is the weather here currently. I’ve gone from an area under drought conditions to the worst flooding this area has seen for years. Almost 12 counties in Washington have had flood alerts issued, and there are quite a few cities that have been overtaken with water. My flights into Seattle were delayed for over two hours as they put flights on a rotational delay due to the inability to handle the usual amount of air traffic into the city with the torrential rain.

Simply driving back from Seattle last night was an adventure, as parts of I-90 had fairly deep water on the roadway and had suffered from washouts here and there. Traffic was slow due to numerous accidents, and the driving conditions were terrible. I have to sincerely thank Danie for getting me home. I was in no state to drive, and she did an excellent job negotiating the rough driving conditions, even if she did have a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel at moments. From what I understand they stopped in North Bend on the way to pick me up to get gas, and almost ended up stuck there in the process. North Bend has been one of the harder hit communities, with the flooding there actually closing the voting poll location.

This brings me to my final point for today: voting day. Thankfully I didn’t miss the general election for this year, as I had almost feared. Today is voting today, and I was able to get my ballot filled out and turned in. I voted pretty much straight Democrat this year, as I’m not impressed for the most part with the political views of the Republicans. I did have some time today to at least go through and do some research on the referendums up on the ballot, and look at the unknowns in the different legislative and judicial offices opening up. As time goes on, I feel the need to get more and more politically involved as I watch what I once thought were rights and freedoms we had as individuals being taken from us. I am frustrated a lot of the time in being in such an obviously right-wing, religious community. I’ve found that a lot of my political views differ by a large margin to the people around me. Shawn, thankfully, is an exception to this, and our similar viewpoints have been one of the things that keep us amused in our friendship.

For the most part, I’m just relieved that I can no longer be held responsible for everything that’s wrong with America now that I’m actually an active, voting citizen.

Now if I could just stop being ashamed for the country I live in.