Almost homesick

I have three essays to write and don't even know HOW to start one of them... as there is no question to actually answer. Ugh. 'Picking your own topic' is hard, and not in the 'it's a nice challenge' hard, but, as a non-expert, it would be nice to have some guidance on what to investigate further. Okay, I am whining.

It's post-Thanksgiving, in a country that doesn't celebrate it, so we are left with the longing for home but faced with the 'business as usual' and no reconciliation between the two.

Tim is heading to Alnwick today to hang out with Kris and Jodi who stayed with us last weekend, toured the Highlands, and are now visiting Wade in England. Dinner and probably drinks tonight and tomorrow they visit Val and Stan and some other old friends for meals and such. I'm gonna stay here and attempt to get some work done on these essays - ugh, I am just so damn stressed out over them!!! At least the one, the other two will write themselves I think.

Went to Mrs. Henderson Presents last night. Good movie - second half was better than the first, but it made me think of home, and missing it, but also of how much this time abroad will be good for my perspective and how I approach life. One part 'life is short, live it' and the another part thinks 'appreciate what you have or it will be gone' and yet, another part, 'careful what you ask for, you may just get it'. Touching movie, uplifting soundtrack, and great acting - who doesn't just love Dame Judy Dench?

I haven't started a 'countdown' to when I return to the US and I doubt that I really will - but conversation with John and Mary and Tim at drinks before the film made me think of and realize how quickly it is coming! Assuming the dissertation work gets down, I'll be moving back to the US about 8 months! Crazy!

I wonder if our friends remember what we sold them versus what we lent them? I wonder if I do? I miss my plants. Is that weird? I am not disliking life here, but it's like Tim and I (and perhaps John and Mary as well) are experiencing a kind of collective homesickness; we've had several conversations about going 'home' recently. Well, it certainly isn't a reflection of our unhappiness here, but perhaps a reflection of the strength in the ties to and or love of our friends and families back home.

Home soon.