Home is where the <3 is…

We have been on the road exactly 8 months today. Can you believe it?! I find myself often in a contradictory state where it seems like we just left, and in parallel it feels like I’ve been living like this forever. My life in San Francisco was a movie I watched once that gets hazier and hazier. The characters get flatter. The plot loses its hold.

Even though we are now fully living day to day out of our backpacks (which brings its own rewards and pitfalls), nevertheless we still miss the small and seemingly unending comforts of home.

Things like:
Our furry kitties sleeping on the bed with us
Brushing our teeth using tap water
Showers with a curtain over a stall or even a tub (dare, the thought)
Good plumbing
Fluffy toilet paper
Fluffy scrambled eggs
A morning bagel with cream cheese
Strong, fresh brewed coffee
A good hamburger without pieces of gristle in it
Grocery shopping at Whole Foods
Cooking our own dinners
The microwave
A little wardrobe variety
Washer n dryers

Pleasant smelling clothes
Steady electrical current
TV’s larger than 13” with good reception
Giant computer monitors (our laptop screen is painfully small!)
Having a variety of creative outlets
Safe, iced drinks
Britta water filters
Tempurpedic pillows

Down comforters

Sidewalks
Traffic Lights

The little details that outline our lives don’t necessarily bring us joy but they certainly remind us of what we truly have to be grateful for. I thought back to a day after work last year, when Ron picked me up in his Subaru. I clicked across the sidewalk in my green patent high heeled shoes to his car. We debated for 10 minutes on where we should eat dinner and settled for Lulu’s nearby. Being a busy night, we spent half an hour at the bar next door waiting for a table, sipping two rounds of $8 Maker’s Manhattans.

Did I appreciate at the time, that snippet of my life? Of working a great job in cute shoes, going to an amazing restaurant with my equally amazing boyfriend, and not once looking at the prices? Sad to say, but not really. I had to be 7875 miles away to realize just what type of life I had. How I appreciate it now more than I did then. How even after that realization, I’m certain more than ever that this was the right decision to up and travel the world. And how I can’t even really appreciate the breadth or depth of what I’m doing right now until I reflect back on it later. I’ve changed in ways you wouldn’t think. I’ve changed in ways I can’t describe. I’ve changed in ways that have not yet manifested.

I’m like a goldfish in a tank that can’t define the purpose of the water until I’ve been flung across the living room onto the carpet. Ever feel that way? You only “get it” in hindsight?

Well, one thing is for sure, after all these months away, all the different countries and cultures and sights: I miss home.