G.
16 months. I’m flying home this week though. I’ve been away so long it seems that I’m becoming acustomed to this place and it’s ways making it increasingly difficult to go home for any lengthy amount of time other than a nice relaxing holiday with loved ones. Mostly I miss the nature, the sky and the trees and the smells. I miss the sounds of the birds and their beautiful colours. I miss the wide open spaces and the blue blue sky. Did I say I missed the sky? I miss the sunshine. I miss black people and their huge sparkly eyes and wide toothy smiles. I miss Africa. But I’m acustomed to the first world now…
I might get withdrawal symptoms after mainlining ILP for more than a year.
A
Does that include The United States and not seeing your home state or family for years? If it does, I feel at times like a fish out of water, I still am trying to learn Southern culture. Meeting new people and learning a new culture is hard if you can’t fall back on family and friends. I have not seen my family in over a year and then I only saw them for a couple days before that it had been 8 years for some and 15 years for the others. I speak of imediate family, parents and sibs. As far as other relatives, not since I got married 21 yrs ago, have I seen most. It will be years before I see any again. We talk on the phone but, as you know its not the same. It is amazing to me how different the language and culture is between the states. I feel at times its a different country. Listen to a cajun or any Southener, and try understanding what they are saying is hard at times.
That is how I feel, you did not say how you feel.
I feel strong. I feel expansive. I have grown tremendously from having to learn to be flexible and to embrace new cultures and I’m grateful for that. The love for my family and my friends is always and always. I hold them in my heart wherever I am and they hold me in their hearts. When I do go home for a holiday, it’s quality intensive time spent together. A time to treasure. But they understand that I will inevitably leave again. My bags are always packed.
A
I agree LiquidAngel, it is fantastic to learn new people and things. It does give you strength. I just wish we could afford to see each other more often. The holidays are always the hardest for me. I would never give up the life I live though, the one that is truly closest is always by my side anyway.
[size=150]Dolly Parton — “Wildflowersâ€[/size]
[i]The hills were alive with wildflowers
And I was as wild, even wilder than they
For at least I could run, they just died in the sun
And I refused to just wither in place
Just a wild mountain rose, needing freedom to grow
So I ran fearing not where I’d go
When a flower grows wild, it can always survive
Wildflowers don’t care where they grow
And the flowers I knew in the fields where I grew
Were content to be lost in the crowd
They were common and close, I had no room for growth
I wanted so much to branch out
I uprooted myself from my home ground and left
Took my dreams and I took to the road
When a flower grows wild, it can always survive
Wildflowers don’t care where they grow
I grew up fast and wild and I never felt right
In a garden so different from me
I just never belonged, I just longed to be gone
So the garden, one day, set me free
Hitched a ride with the wind and since he was my friend
I just let him decide where we’d go
When a flower grows wild, it can always survive
Wildflowers don’t care where they grow[/i]
You say the sweetest things Shy.
A