Back In Ohio

Yesterday, my eight week stay at Andre House came to an end as I returned to Ohio.  The good byes were difficult, but it is nice seeing my Ohio friends and family again.  Even though I am no longer at Andre House, Breaking the Standard Model will still be continued.  I have a few more posts and some epic Grand Canyon photos to publish.

Wednesday was my last day at the center while it was open. (I was at the Grand Canyon Thursday and we are closed Fridays.)  I took the back door during dinner so I would have the opportunity to say good bye to as many of the guests as I could.  After the last couple left, I locked the backdoor and went to grab my book and water bottle, except my nice biking water bottle was missing.  I remembered having taken a drink when there were five people left eating so it could not have gone far.  It was nowhere to be seen where I was sitting, so I concluded that it had either been taken by a guest or I had accidentally thrown it in the trash as I tied up the bag.  I looked outside and at the top of the trash, but did not see it.  Giving it up for lost or stolen, I packed up stuff to head to dinner.

Upon walking out of the center to the car, I looked up and saw the last guest to have left that night, holding my precious water bottle.  "Really?" I thought, "The very last guest on the last day of working at Andre House steals my water bottle."  I wanted to politely ask for it back under the pretext that I assumed it was an honest mistake, which it probably was, but something stopped me.  I rationalized that he probably needed it more than I did, and that I would now be leaving a part of myself in Phoenix.  I drove off without seeing the bottle again, though as of his last sighting on Thursday, the guest still had the bottle, so I know it is being used well.