Getting out to see the world and visiting places I'd never otherwise see, that's an incredible perk of my job. I don't begrudge the travel, but I miss my family terribly. I mourn the loss of each and every minute we didn't have together. Yet this morning, as Delta 1272 ascended over North Florida, I was thinking about some of the simpler things I'd be missing the next few days.
I'll miss our morning run. At home, with my running buddy, we can run the same route every day and it never becomes boring. In fact, the sameness of our route is comforting. Mile markers are noted with the passing of a sign or a tree, not a cold, impersonal LED display. The run outdoors is a rarity when I'm on the road. Either the climate or the traffic is unfriendly. Running on a treadmill is pure drudgery. Even with the distractions of television, iPod, and a magazine all I can do is count down the minutes remaining.
I'll miss my breakfast ritual. Lately I've been enjoying a tall post-run cranberry pomegranate spritzer. I fill our biggest cup 3/4 of the way with seltzer, 3/16 with cranberry juice and 1/16 with Pom Wonderful (give or take). It's bubbly, full of antioxidants, and the cranberries are supposed to keep the parts clear of bad fungi. The spritzer is the perfect cocktail to wash down the melty peanut butter coated English muffin. That customized meal is an impossibility on the road. I usually settle for a Styrofoam cup of instant oatmeal and a mini box of raisins, a meal I can prepare in my room using the immersion heater in my self-fashioned frequent traveler's survival kit.
I'll miss Big Pillow. My trusty body pillow, a friend I found more than a decade ago during pregnancy. Snuggling up with this 5 foot long squishy pillow has cured many an aching muscle. Because of its size, it cannot stow away on the plane with me. The best I can do is bring one of Big Pillow's cases with me and stuff it full of lumpy hotel pillows.
For so many big reasons, and many more little ones, there really is no place like home.
“You are what I never knew I always wanted”
12 years ago
3 comments:
More than you missing the big and little things of home, we (and I think I speak for everyone) miss you when you are away.
You know I love a great description on the eats, so the third paragraph's contrasts of your breakfasts was superb. Is there anything sadder than a mini-box of raisins?
And, thanks for the graphics!
Your post made me think of Lost in Translation...the disconnect from home...
Your post made me think of how it won't get that much easier to be away from home (and I only do it for ten hours a day). I miss lots of good stuff that I realize on Saturdays: the morning smile, the contented playing on the floor, the chance to take pictures in natural light, and picking out an outfit for the day.
You've made so many sacrifices. We do miss you. This blog is one of our ways to connect to you, to know where you are, to know how you are. For keeping in touch, it's not as good as chatting over Irish Breakfast tea but it's better than immersion heater oatmeal in a styrofoam cup.
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