Debi v. Aliens

Imagine your family is lifted out of your home by friendly aliens, you happily live in the alien's kingdom for 2 years, then suddenly you are dropped back into your old home. Life has continued on in your neighborhood while you were gone. The houses in your neighborhood still hold mostly the same people. Children have been born and others have grown, some have grown so much they have left home. Pets have died and new pets have arrived. Jobs have changed. Houses have changed colors. The trees have grown. People drive the same cars. People seem to be very similar to who they were when you left them.

The problem? Spending two years with the aliens has changed you. Living in their kingdom has exposed you to a different way of life. Their culture was so much different than yours that you realize that you don't really like some parts of your old life. The aliens helped you define your personal and family values, so now YOU ARE DIFFERENT. You are different, but dropped back into your same old world. How do you renegotiate your life to reflect your new values when life around you is the same as when you left? How do you retain the new values when the culture you are surrounded with doesn't value the same things?

Do you send messages to the aliens asking to come back? Do you cry? Do you try to forget the lessons the aliens taught you? Do you search your old world for others who have been touched by the aliens?

Do you hope that some day, with some work, your alien values and your old world will merge together and live peacefully? I do.
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