I had this blog in mind last week, and an article came across my feed to push it forward. The article is worth a read, and in it "normalcy" is referenced.

Yes, that is our oven temperature control knob. One of the 'Comforts of Home'.

When I googled 'The Comforts of Home' for an image one of the top results was a Flannery O'Conner book with the same title. I might need to add that to my fiction reading list. I read "A Good Man is Hard to Find" somewhere along the way in school, maybe sophomore or senior English. Oddly enough people would read that one, but several requested that they didn't read "Flowers for Algernon". I digress, and instead of using a google image...I figured the oven knob would make better sense. It's been fixed, searched for, etc. It'll stay taped.

We got back to Austin a week ago. Our house was a clean mess. Clean because it had been professionally cleaned. A mess because we arrived back to our house after being gone since April. Almost 5 full months. Not much different than the past summers since 2010, but all together different.

Previously, we'd left Austin for training and racing and making our living as professional triathletes. Switzerland, Thailand, and Flagstaff Arizona were the main locations. We'd return home late each summer or early in the fall and get ready for the late seasons. Life resumed pretty quickly. And that life pretty typically consisted of swimming, biking, running.

Now it's different. "Normalcy" for us hasn't really been determined. We had a routine in Houston. We'll develop one here in Austin. Whether or not you agree with the premise of the linked article, "normalcy" is something that we all seek out. By necessity what is normal changes with the times.