My grand-niece turns 2 today.
The most difficult part of living in a different country is missing family. We knew it would be, but I thought that with both my parents gone and not seeing the rest of my family frequently anyway, I would be a lot better equipped to handle it.
Apparently, not.
I miss my siblings, my nieces and nephews, my new grand-nieces, and of course, I miss Baxter. A good dog takes the edge off of loneliness.
When we were assigned to the other side of America, I knew that when I missed family, I took comfort in knowing that we could visit “any time.” No passports or customs. A weekend visit by plane or long road-trip and we were reunited.
And even when nobody would have time for trips, we could easily manage the three-hour time difference for phone calls, and it wouldn’t break the bank.
I will call my niece today to visit and tell her about the little things I bought for her daughter here. But as I write this post it’s still just the wee hours of the morning. I have to wait, and long, and miss her for half a day until it’s a decent hour to call.
But I know I’m still lucky. I have an amazingly strange and loving family, nieces and nephews, and two, magnetic grand-nieces. Six hours time difference is really not that bad, and they are still, “only” a flight away. And maybe, just maybe, when Kurt’s not paying attention, I can get somebody to smuggle me in a certain large, black labrador retriever.
Happy Birthday, Adeline.
Love, Marla
I’m just catching up on a lot of news, glad the move went okay!!! 🙂
Sorry you are homesick Marla, certainly understandable.
Awww, I thought I was the sappy, sentimental one! You’re such a sweet grand-aunt! And a pretty ok sister too! 😉
Awww, Auntie M! We miss you, too. Thanks for thinking of Adeline today, and especially for the phone call! SO amazing hearing you! Love you!