I'm on the plane on the way to Phoenix and it will more likely than not be my last visit here. It seems so strange to be at this point in my life. I knew it was inevitable but really never expected it to happen. Both of them are gone now. I'm alone. It feels awfully lonely to be coming back here and to know that their world is gone. The house is sold. Their belongings have been sent to the seven winds. I truly cannot go home again. I guess my only home now is the Hollow.
It will be nice but also painful to see Polly, also for the last time. When I get in Pop's car (now mine) on Friday or Saturday, I don't know what I will be feeling. This will be the moment of finality, when I have to really say "goodbye" for the last time. Goodbye to all those wonderful times out west, goodbye to the house that Ma & Pa loved so much, goodbye to the desert with its extraordinary starkness and color and light.
Gosh, I wish this plane would land. My ears are getting stuffed, so I can feel we are descending. Supposed to be 100 degrees today, tho' it will probably be a bit cooler as it will be well after 8pm when we land.
I just looked at some map program on my iPad and it showed SCW as the last outpost of civilization at the edge of Phoenix. I don't know what that was all about but lately I've been feeling like I've been going sideways thru time. I had a sudden moment when I hoped that I had traveled back 15-20 years and I would find my folks waiting for me at the airport. I probably will never have anyone meet me at an airport ever again. Yes, I'm ready for this plane to make a nice soft landing in the Valley of the Sun.
