Homesick...

My friend posted a blog entry today about whoopie pies. Now, whoopie pies are not the same all over the world. In New England, whoopie pies are a delight for the palate. They are special and just don't taste the same in other parts of the world.

While I do miss the taste of whoopie pies, what struck me more was her connection to "home" that the treat evoked. I don't have many things that make me miss home much. I, of course, can't eat whoopie pies because of my surgery. Really though, there are no foods that remind me of home that make me that emotional. Rather, I see pictures of fall foliage (fall being my FAVORITE time of year) and that makes me homesick. I miss the crisp smell of autumn and the colors of the leaves. I miss the beginning of school and the need for a jacket in September. I miss the last dive into the lake when it's 60 degrees and we thought it was warm (now I'm in a jacket at 70 degrees!) and I miss my family. The strange thing is, when I think of home, I don't always think of where I physically grew up.

I physically grew up on the East Coast where I lived 1 hour away from the rocky coast and visited there often. I left there at 28 to go to graduate school in the west. While I did my physical growing up in the East, my EMOTIONAL growing up was done in the west. So which is my home? Hard to tell. I spent only 3 years in Utah, and yet I feel like that is home just as much as Maine. How can I be so loyal to two places at once? I'm not sure. When I visit Maine, I want to go home and when I visit Utah, I also want to go home. BUT, really I'm home here - where my wonderful family lives and works and we grow together. I come back to Nevada and find that the best part of me was left behind in my travels and I get to find myself again upon my return. I have the best time when I travel anywhere, yet I'm always thankful to be back with my husband and children again.

I miss my family and my friends, but I recognize that now it is not possible for us to be together in the same state. Maybe someday, we'll all be able to be closer and spend more time together. Until then, I just have to enjoy every minute of the vacations I spend with them.