My trip home comes to an end in an hour. Then back to lovely East Tennessee, where I get back to the daily grind.

It's been a super-fab vacation this time. I really feel like I've rejuvenated my spirit and mind. As I told a friend:

and so finally i was able to come home and just let loose. not worry about anything. sleep in. swim. sit in the sun. eat. watch movies. and just be loved. it's always good to come home.

My dad got the pool fixed Sunday so I spent the early part of yesterday and today afternoon swimming and soaking in the sun, while the heavy traffic of S. Bishop Ave bustled past me. But I would close my eyes and feel the breeze and everything felt calm, or so it seemed.

Also, while undergoing the rejuvenation, I decided to cut my hair real short. So gone are the long locks. Now it's back to being mistaken with my brother but less stress over handling my hair.

Day three at Rustic Motel has been frantic. I've spent the early part of the morning helping my mum clean rooms, make beds and vacuum. Then I helped my dad fold sheets and answer the motel phone.

After that, I got sent to find a polyurethane sealant for the motel pool. It took me three stores, two phone calls, and one return later to get the right product. And in this time, I got to pet some baby chicks too. How adorable they were. If I lived here, I may have considered buying a couple — they were only $1 a chick. Then a short drive to St. James to drop my dad off as he makes a trip to St. Louis with a friend to pick up supplies.

I didn't realize how much strife and struggle is required in running a motel. But I'm so proud that my parents run an independent motel with my mum's roses and plants framing a colorful entrance to the motel and their cheerful smalltalk welcoming weary travelers. Where else but at the fabulous Rustic Motel would you ever get such service!

Now as the afternoon comes to a close, I'm watching ZEE TV with my mum. It's a nice relaxing sort of day and maybe I'll be able to covince my mum to make me some garam garam chai and fry me some of her delicious samosas.

Stay tuned; life at an African-Indian's independent motel is rife with stories.

The blogging had come to a hiatus, what with all my jet setting around the country (or technically the Eastern part). For the past two months, my weekends have been filled with trips to Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, West Virginia or with working the night shift. And I'm still traveling: I'm visiting my parents in Rolla, Mo.

But being home (i.e. with my parents) is giving me a good chance to recuperate and rejuvenate, not to mention update chai at six. Life in Rolla has a much slower pace, with only the ring of the motel's front doorbell being an interruption. Although my father would frown on my calling the possibility of a new customer an interruption.

Before, I would readily say I could never live in Rolla. Yet perhaps the gentle life of Knoxville, which I have come to adore, has prepared me for a calmer way of living. Yesterday, I went down to the Center, a fitness and recreation center in Rolla that boasts a fancy gym, indoor and outdoor pool, several basketball and volleyball courts among other things. I wanted to continue my new regimen of walking/jogging and found this place ideal. As I walked and ran on the paths, I observed the neat row of homes in this little town. I saw sidewalks I so often miss. I saw a sense of community and people fitting it. It's ideal for my parents, and will perhaps be ideal one day when I become a parent.

Be assured that Rolla has nothing to do with the title of this post mentioning Idaho. I IMed with a friend who is in my fellowship and our banter went on for over an hour. She resides in Idaho and is very cool, very funny and very intelligent. And she thinks I'm great, which makes me even more fond of her. Plus, I just love the sentence she said: "Tell your parents someone in Idaho thinks you're great!"

Yeah, it's been a pretty good week. I won two awards at work this week, read a novel that heavily engrossed me, rode my bike and am now home. Stay tuned for more updates on life at the fabulous Rustic Motel! Ahhh ... bliss!