“For the first time in nine years, I felt embarrassed about my abrupt departure and the complete severing of all my ties. My actions had been justified – I was still sure of that. But all the time I’d been away, I’d assumed that everything had remained the same, that people and beliefs hadn’t changed. Which was stupid, because I hadn’t stayed the same. I felt a little of my old resolve not to look back shift and redistribute itself, like sand in and outgoing tide.”
