To the casual observer, our new home is looking pretty settled in. There are only a few packing boxes left to be seen. I have already replaced the beloved fern that rode to Washington in the back seat when we moved there last fall, but didn’t flourish in its new home and wouldn’t have survived the trip back.

In reality, although things are out of boxes, they are not all yet where they should be. I have to be patient.

But I had a great day on Tuesday. With trepidation, I took my second trip in a week to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (not known for its user-friendliness). I had checked and re-checked to make sure I had the proper documentation (after failing the first time). I arrived just before the Registry opened at 9:00 a.m. By 10:30, I had my Massachusetts license plates and a Massachusetts driver’s license. I was ecstatic.

Then we had the best lunch guests imaginable—Jeremy and Katrina who took a three-hour detour from their vacation trip to Maine to see our new apartment.

And before the afternoon was over, I had gone to City Hall, got my Cambridge Resident Parking Sticker, and then on the way to renew my library card, bumped into our former next-door neighbor.

Re-entry is challenging, but some days, everything goes right.