Living away from your hometown comes with a high price tag. Bounty paid in time lost. Sunday dinners, football games, impromptu outings and meaningful celebrations. While Seattle is my soul's homeport and I'm happily converted to being a PNW dweller, reminders of the cost are always in the under tow.
My mother came to visit this past weekend to celebrate Mairead's 5th birthday. It was a rare occasion that she stayed at my place. Thoroughly enjoyed getting the opportunity for some quiet and motherly visits in my own home. It's just a different vibe than lunches at restaurants and dividing time between being an in demand Aunt and a daughter. It was a wonderful, whirlwind visit.
For living so far away from my parents and best friend (currently living in Belgium), I do a great job at keeping consistent contact. Free long-distance and the internet have made our world so much smaller and distant more manageable. But after each in person visit, I'm woefully reminded what my world is missing...the hugs, the smiles, the expressions and the unique energy that each person brings with them. The ache for so much more echos for a time until life and its hectic pace drowns it out. And once again the dance of phone calls and emails begin.
And that's how life is living away from home...brief, intense, concentrated togetherness followed by long periods of draught.
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