Homesick

We all have our little fetishes, that's for sure....I certainly do. Let's take my extreme case of homesickness. It strikes me every time I leave home (surprise, surprise). Let me try and explain it.
I'm on vacation, enjoying myself, learning new things, seeing new sights when suddenly it hits. That lump in my throat, that longing in my soul. Tears can even come to my eyes. I want to be home....NOW. Once the family was on a two week vacation on the East coast. We woke up in the morning at a beautiful Bed and Breakfast in Charlottetown PEI and I said.."I want to go home." But in my soul it is more like "I want to BE home Now, or I HAVE to be home Now." So my long suffering husband packs us up and we drive straight home 22 hours on the road.
It's not that I can't handle not being home, but believe me, I have to fight the longing almost like an anxiety. I'm good for a couple of days, even a week but I dare not think what more than 2 weeks away from home would do to me.
This is a bit of a problem because I do want to travel and see some of the world, Lord willing. Perhaps if I bite off travelling in 2-week increments I will be OK.
When I do get home, oh how I love to walk through room to room, smell everything and look at everything that is near and dear to me. And then there is sleeping in my own bed, the piece-de-resistance!
I empathize with all those little 7 years olds at their first sleepovers at a friend's house, all the young adults leaving home for the first time, all the elderly who can no longer live safely in their own home.
To all the homebodies and housecats out there, I feel your pain.

Back to the Bike

Here we are! Picking up speed as we move into the middle of September. Amazingly, we have had the BEST weather in the last two weeks since,oh, I dunno.... let's say May 2006. Good thing to because I am taking my bike more than ever back and forth to work. As the son is now a driver more often than not I am handing over those car keys as I look up into the big choco-ball brown eyes.
So I thought, as I pumped my way through town this past week, I would consider the pluses and minuses of riding a bike. Here is a somewhat inexhaustive list:
PLUS
1) Great for the environment
2) Great for my heart/health
3) Much more tactile than sitting in a car
4) I can smell everything (plus or minus)
5) I seem to think more clearly (plus or minus)
6) It gets easier the more I do it
7) They say you never forget how - a great comfort when dementia start to slip in
8) It only takes me about 5 minutes longer in a car (I am getting better!)
9) It's wonderful, especially in the morning
10)Makes me feel 15 again (please read my book for more info)

MINUS
1) Not for pansys
2) You MUST be on your toes or you will be smucked/crushed and mangled by
a) big bossy diesel trucks
b) kids chatting on their cell phones
c) Little old men wearing hats
3) I can smell everything (plus or minus)
4) I seem to think more clearly (plus or minus)
5) At the end of the day, when the wind has picked up and blowing me back towards work and I have NO Energy - I do not want to bike all the way home
6) Sometimes I actually get sweaty!
7) The funky helmet ruins my hairdo before I even get to work
8) Can't pick up milk/fruit/dog food/bottle of wine on the way home unless I want to stuff it in my knapsack and carry on my back - which I don't want to do.

When I add them all up there are more pluses than minuses. If you haven't ridden a bike lately, pull the old girl out, pump up the tires and give'r a go. I would love to take part in a carfree day with nothing but bikes/people on the road. Here is a blog spot about just such a thing:
http://carfreeusa.blogspot.com/
PS - check out the video and the dude riding the "conference bike". He is wearing a T-shirt that says "Maybe partying will help". Love that T-shirt dude, love that T-shirt!

Saying Goodbye/Saying Hello

So this past week has been a busy one. We drove our daughter Randi back to University, a good 3 hour drive smack through the middle of Toronto. This is the beginning of her fourth year so I should be getting better at this goodbye thing. I am, really, I am. But still there is that motherly angst when I drive out and leaver her, alone, by herself, in a strange city. Everything in me says "Don't leave your child there alone! What are you doing?? Your job is to look after her, protect her!" But, the fact is she's a grown woman now and my job is not to look after and protect her anymore. And I know that in my mind anyway, just have to move it on down to my heart!
Back at our house things just don't quite feel the same and I miss her presence, but I will get used to it and she will be back for Thanksgiving.
But then half way through this week something happened - a surprise. I come home from work and who should walk in the door but Randi! It seems she hitched a ride to Toronto with friends and from there her boyfriend brought her back home. She doesn't start classes until next week and since she had nothing else to do in St Catharines, back she came.
So in one week I said goodbye and then hello and as of today, it will be goodbye again. I think I hear a Beatles song in there somewhere.....