Welcome back?

I know it has been a while (4 months to be exact) since my last post, but I have been feeling rather meditative as of late and figured I should write about it. Its nearly 4 months to the day that I left Mali and started on my journey back as a functioning member of American society; since then its been a bit of a rollercoaster ride, with both ups and downs.
After 2 years of hard-life living in Mali, I felt I deserved at least a month of doing nothingness before I try to be functional again. It was a lovely time; what volunteers call the "honeymoon" phase. Everyone is excited to have us back again and hear our stories, and we're excited to tell them. The food is plentiful, there is running hot water and working toilets, and more TV channels than one needs in life. There can be pitfalls to this period as well, however- while reaching the end of service we were reminded over and over again that it would be hard to readjust. We were warned that we would break down in the cereal aisle at the sight of so many choices, that the sight of plenty would send us into a state of shock. But for me, mostly, it was a chance of reacquainting myself with cheese and good beer and the excitement of having things TO DO.
By now, however, the honeymoon period has worn off. I think I'm readjusted to American life again. While I am still waiting for my breakdown in the Target aisle,
I'm glad that I'm in DC. There are more returned volunteers than one can shake a stick at. There is a large and active RPCV Washington club here that regularly arranges happy hours and get-togethers. More of my former volunteer friends arrive every month. At parties I find myself gravitating to people who've done Peace Corps, or whom at least have worked abroad. At my own birthday party not too long ago, it was made up entirely of RPCVs, some old friends, some new. Although once I was thrilled at the prospect of meeting all kinds of new people, most of the new people I meet are RPCVs. And we realize that its because we're now part of this special group, that can talk in a language nobody understands, and I don't mean the foreign languages we learn abroad. We don't have to explain what the hardest parts were of doing Peace Corps, because they already know. I'm a member of one of the craziest groups around, as it is.