It’s the early morning hours when I miss home the most. I wake up for what seems like the fourth or fifth time because I’m hot again or my back aches from another strange bed.
What I miss is not necessarily my own physical bed—that mattress certainly had it’s own issues—but the familiarity of my routine. My workouts and going to a grocery store where I know I will be able to find exactly what I’m looking for are at the top of my list today.
I miss snuggling with our kitties: Johann always ready to take a nap with me and Sebastian laying on my chest while I watch tv on the couch.
I miss the output of our garden: regular good produce is surprisingly hard to find on the road. At this time of the summer we would normally be overrun with tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini.
I miss bike rides with friends on Saturday mornings and the long conversations about work and family as we tick off the miles.
I miss the deep satisfaction that comes from discovering an elegant design for a programming problem I had been working on.
But there’s stuff I don’t miss.
- The stress of deadlines
- Alarm clocks
- Over-scheduling myself because I don’t want to miss out on anything
- Days full of zoom meetings
- Picking through aspirational clothing that I’ve had in my closet for years that no longer fits but maybe it will someday
- I don’t miss getting woken up in the middle of the night because Sebastian is feeling anxious…or hungry (so sorry Deb and Ken!!)
After awhile, I remember that the “home” I’m missing is not a physical place. It’s a sense of familiarity and routine in all of the newness everyday. Marla and I have discovered that a sweet spot for us staying in locations is 4 days. Day 1 is travel and it’s usually worthless. Days 2 and 3 are good for exploring and then by Day 4, we’re ready to rest or go on to the next place.
We’ve moved around a lot in this first part of the trip–a bit more than we prefer. We are keeping that in mind as we start making reservations in Western Europe. It will be interesting to see how different that part of the trip will be from this one.
Leave a Reply