Philopatridomania

Philopatridomania (n)- homesickness

Being in a radically different place like this, it’s bound to happen that I would be missing home. I have days like today, where I just ache with wanting the comfort, familiarity, confidence, ease, and surroundings of home. I especially want to be with my family and with Stephen, or at very least to be able to talk with them. Ah! My heart is hurting. These feelings swell and shrink, especially when I’m able to touch base with my people, when I’m actively engaged with my community, or when new events happen (magpie brain).

Other times, the feeling of homesickness is not a chronic ache but an acute, specific longing for a particular time, place, or thing. The onset and specificity or these ones surprises me! I think I should write them down, both so I can laugh at myself but also so I can appreciate these things in an entirely new way when I have them close at hand. They’re mostly food, which embarrasses me.

What I have missed acutely so far:

-making tea with an electric tea kettle

-a chocolate croissant, preferably from the one café in Valley Fair mall

-Tumblr

-a mai tai

-seashells

-cheese quesadillas

-curling up with a movie after a hot shower

-gooey American style pizza

-spinach salads

-a fresh-picked strawberry

-writing surfaces (desks, tables, chairs of the appropriate height)

-perfume