I woke up this morning with a headache somewhere behind my right eyeball. It's not to terrible, but the tension from coping with the headache leaves me a little weak. My usual buoyant spirits don't always kick in during those moments. My undoing came while listening to country music and going through a cookbook to compile my grocery list.
Then I felt like crying. I miss pork. I miss bacon. I might just kill for a pork chop. A good 200 pages in the cookbook are completely useless to me. Then the songs I was listening to only added to the homesickness. I miss home. But where is home?
I miss Wyoming, my home state. I miss the mountains, the space, the wild, rugged beauty of the land. I miss my family. I miss eating a good steak.
I miss Sweden. I miss biking with my kids. I miss the green. I miss the playgrounds. I miss the history and culture. And gosh, how I miss my friends there. I miss the food like meatballs, lingonsylt, paron saft, and the chocolate.
When we move from Riyadh, I know I am going to miss the food, having 5 swimming pools within a few yards of my home, lots of playmates for my kids, a close cafe, mint lemonade, and camels.
Do you ever get homesick for more than one place or am I just weird?
Then I felt like crying. I miss pork. I miss bacon. I might just kill for a pork chop. A good 200 pages in the cookbook are completely useless to me. Then the songs I was listening to only added to the homesickness. I miss home. But where is home?
I miss Wyoming, my home state. I miss the mountains, the space, the wild, rugged beauty of the land. I miss my family. I miss eating a good steak.
I miss Sweden. I miss biking with my kids. I miss the green. I miss the playgrounds. I miss the history and culture. And gosh, how I miss my friends there. I miss the food like meatballs, lingonsylt, paron saft, and the chocolate.
I miss New York. I really miss the Hudson River, Bear Mountain Bridge, the green trees everywhere. I miss NYC with the museums and cool culture. I really miss my friends. I miss sausage and peppers. I really miss the good ice cream.
So yes, I do get lonely and homesick for my homes. I really miss my family and friends.
On the plus side, isn't it cool that I have lived in so many wonderful places that I have grown to love?When we move from Riyadh, I know I am going to miss the food, having 5 swimming pools within a few yards of my home, lots of playmates for my kids, a close cafe, mint lemonade, and camels.
Do you ever get homesick for more than one place or am I just weird?
I miss Yellowstone, walking around downtown Salt Lake, and finding new birds along Lake Washington. I always miss Jerusalem. I would miss the mountains, but the mountains in Kyrgyzstan are better than the ones in Utah (except for Timpanogos, which is the only thing I miss about my home town).
ReplyDeleteNot weird. I am homesick for the places I've simply visited! So, no. Not weird.
ReplyDeleteI definitely do. Mostly, though, it's the people in those places I miss the most. Sometimes I wish I could have a huge get-together with all my friends from everywhere. That would be some party!
ReplyDeleteMost definitely. I miss San Antonio, TX badly (we were there 4 years). I often think of the food, and my friends...but sometimes I think I just miss the stage of my life I was at when I lived there. And I realize my life would be much the same as it is now because I just have less free time than I did then. I miss the town we grew up in...but can hardly picture being a mom there. Not sure why.
ReplyDeleteI've only lived in NY and Utah but I know what you mean. The first year in Utah I really missed the fall colors we have in NY. That year we had a huge snowstorm in September. The seasons change from Summer to Winter so much more abruptly there. I did NOT miss the east coast humidity. The food was another issue. There was no Italian sausage and no ricotta cheese. I'd never seen lasagna made with cottage cheese until Utah. I missed the hot dogs, pizza and Chinese food too. They've gotten somewhat better on those things since I first went out there over 40 years ago. When I moved back to NY I missed the souvelaki from the little Greek places in Salt Lake. I missed the pink cookies from Dan's foods and the chocolate donuts we used to get from some little store. I missed the mountains and the dry air. When I was pregnant with my first child two of my best friends from SLC sent me ten pounds of the pink cookies on the plane with my mother when she had visited there. I kept those cookies in the freezer and shared them very sparingly.
ReplyDeleteI have a brother-in-law in Virginia who never fails to go back from visits with five pounds each of NY hot dogs and Italian sausage along with two dozen rolls from the deli. A friend who lives in California craved Drake's Funny Bones (they have peanut butter filling) and another friend would die for Wise potato chips. I've brought those things to them in my suitcases more than once.
These days I miss a good steak too. I can't afford one.
I get homesick for a lot of places, too. And sometimes I get homesick for my husband who travels a lot. Which is weird, because that's not even a "place" but the feeling is the same. I get homesick for my parents' house, for my old wards I've lived in, for my old friends I used to spend hours a day with.
ReplyDeleteSometimes we just feel it more than other days.
And it doesn't matter how cool it is that you get to travel - it is always okay to feel homesick.
(((((((hugs)))))))
I agree with Marlene - I crave some of the weird little food places - even some of the chain restaurants that aren't in every corner of the country. (taco johns, taco time - hmm.. maybe I love Mexican fast food?)
ReplyDeleteMostly, every time I've moved away from somewhere, I've kicked myself that I didn't go do some of the activities/visited the attractions/seen the sights. But when you live somewhere, the touristy things are not as much of a draw. example - I lived in Washington for 3 or 4 years and I really wish I had made the time/spent the money to go whale watching in the San Juan Islands...
Linda