Monday, April 18, 2011

Home Sick

Home sick could mean one is ill and staying at home.  That is what I have been doing for a few day lately.   We are all taking turns with a fever or a stomach ailment or a cough and needing our rest as we adjust to our new environment and bacterias that are foreign to our stomachs and selves.  Today I am home with kid three as he is running a fever and can not be in school.
Home sick could also mean one is sad and missing a place of home.  About this time of year, plans are being made by most people posted overseas for summer travel back to their home country.  Since we just arrived in December those plans for this summer will not be happening.  We will be sending kid one back to the states to do some much needed summer schooling and college visits but kid middle, kid three and myself will stay put on this side of the globe for the summer break.  The mister will be doing all kinds of travel for work so we have placed him in the "exempt from our planning" pile.
Kid middle and myself both feel that going back so soon is just going to restart the pain of saying good bye so we feel safe in staying here for the summer break.  Unfortunately kid three does not agree with us and really would like to make the trip.  All the kids have adjusted to this move incredibly well but if I had to pick one that is doing best and one that is doing worst I would have to say, really all are doing "best" but kid three has had more "sad days" than the rest of us.  Those days that you just can't stop yourself from thinking, "if only I were back in the US"... He has been lonely for his home, his dog, his friends, his routine, his way of life.  On his birthday this month he was asking me if any of his friends from US would come and visit us in India.  I told him maybe his cousin and one other family from cub scouts expressed a small interest, both of which made him happy to think about.
I guess when a person goes away, in the sense that they have not died but simply left their last location, it is reassuring to know from time to time that one is not forgotten.  I think he is feeling a bit forgotten, as we all do for brief periods of time while we think, "if only I were back in the US"...
Our whole family has fallen into relying on the www. to update anyone about our activities here in India.  We have not written letters or postcards to friends and family like we made grand plans to do.
So our goal for ourselves during the summer is to do just that.  Write little notes to Grandma and Grandpa and neighbors and friends and cousins and "pen pals".  I hope you all can join us and make this summer one to remember because of the paper trail we will leave behind. Let's keep in touch!

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