Sheila Coles: It's good to be home!

My 4a.m. alarm sang to me for the first time in a while this morning!

Apart from that wicked jolt, everything else about today feels right.

I feel ready to get back to doing what I love: having coffee with you and enjoying the greatprivilege of hearing yourstories.

Friends tell me I have the best job in Saskatchewan and the truth of that resonates now more than ever.

I've worked since I was 15 and I include time at home with babies in that! so taking several months to travel was a rare gift.

I got to feed and wash elephants in northern Thailand, take a boat down the Mekong River andcheck out the Cu Chi tunnels in Vietnam (where theVietCongonce hid), have dinner in Little India in Singapore, see orangutans in the wild in Borneo and cycle through the rice fields of Bali.

I walked with a British woman who, after a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, moved to Vietnam and devoted her life to stopping the illegal pettrade.

I drank beer with a young couple from Chile who were spending a year travelling around the world before settling into a more "ordinary" life together.

I had tea with a 50-ish woman from Prince George, B.C., who, after a divorce, was on an epic solo journey through Asia.

I heard their stories and many more.

People ask: Are you different now, after all that travel?

Yesand no.

I have a renewed sense of faith in people there really are more good folks out there than bad!

I've regained that sense of wonder in the things around me.I hope that's something I can hang onto.

What hasn't changed? I still love a good story!

It's good to be home and Ilook forward to keeping you company as you start your day.

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