Back to normal?

I was at the dentist this morning and ran into someone I haven't seen in several years (it happens often since my dentist and a good number of his patients go to my church). He asked what's been going on, and I shared my exciting news about having just gotten back from a year in Germany.

"That's cool, that's cool," he responded, "So what else has been going on?"

I tried not to act as surprised as I felt. Um.....what ELSE? What else does there need to be? NOTHING else has been going on, hello, I just spent a year of my life ON A DIFFERENT CONTINENT. The question caught me even more off guard than the question a brother asked me on Wednesday before Minichurch: "How am I doing spiritually?" I had joked to the Minichurch brother that his question was pretty unspecific, and he was quick to clarify that he asked because after his recent short-term mission trip to Thailand, he had been feeling spiritually drained, and I was able to appreciate his concern. The person at the dentist office, however, offered no such explanation for his question, leading me to wonder whether he even understood what I had told him.