Page 38 of The Secret to Belonging

(can you please speak a little more slowly?)

he declares you ready for the big time

his Viking heart beats with pride

on your last day

Maura and you share heart-shaped waffles with brown cheese, a Norwegian staple

she hands you a waxed envelope of Norwegian postkort stamps, opens your notebook and scribbles her address

let’s start a correspondence for the ages

you’re on a plane again

but this time you’re a seasoned traveler

you recognize random words in the flight attendant’s speech

… welcome… we hope… thank you

she repeats it in English

you feel proud of what you understood

you will land twice in other towns

before reaching your final destination

you sit by the window

sip kaffe and nibble vafler

you watch the landscape

see a thick white river

you look again and realize

it’s not a river

it’s a glacier

a glacier?

have you crossed the Arctic Circle?

home feels farther away than memory

or geography permits

the plane lands at a tiny airport

with one runway

the sky drizzles gray mist

you glance at the photo of your host family

tuck it in your backpack

the flight attendant reminds everyone

to hold the handrail down the stairs

the metal is cold and wet

you follow seven other passengers

across the tarmac to the small terminal

take a deep breath of arctic air

and step inside