We left our lovely canalside apartment in Annecy on Wednesday, January 14, 2004 and arrived many hours later in New York City. Packing up had the usual annoyances but there were new questions this time. Where to carry the Nobel Prize--the real gold disc with Rob's name enscribed on the side? The award certificate? The banner from the B Choir of the Stockholm School (these were the guys who marched in singing "HETEROSCADASTICITY DOESN'T MEAN A SHIT TO ME", the little Lucia sculpture left in our room the morning we were awakened by the 6 Lucia singers including the lovely maiden with the lit candles on her head. Those schedules marked up with Inger's incredibly useful notes of additions to the schedule, hairdresser appointments, reminders, protocol. What would we have done without her calm sweet guidance?
We bought a few scrapbooks and started filling those to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. So finally, 3 FedEx boxes and 9 suitcases later, we were able to depart. Did I say that I made the car trip to Geneva with Rob's expanded briefcase on my lap, my briefcase on the floor, and the seat pushed all the way forward so that the luggages in the back seat would fit?
Now we are here. We wondered how it would feel to be back. It feels just wonderful and it does feel different. We've changed. We no longer question whether we should be in New York or back in California. Destiny has spoken and we feel so joyous that we are here to enjoy it. Rob carries a sense of bliss about him that is an additon to his usual warm steady demeanor. I have rented an office and I will make a full professional life here to compliment the small practice I still nurture in La Jolla.
It still feels incredible to have won this Nobel Prize. I don't know if there will ever be a time that it will be incorporated into ourselves and just be. I hope that the thought will always be accompanied by that frisson of joy that we have now. We still look at each other with wonder and say, The Nobel Prize!
Marianne, January 18, 2004
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