Chargers, formula, the monitor, my shampoo!  My shampoo!!  I don’t have room for my shampoo!  I have started packing so long ago and put so much in the suitcase I no longer remember if I packed underwear.  There are so many layers before I could get to where I THINK I packed some underwear that it isn’t worth it to check.  At this point, I can afford $5.99 for Walmart skivvies if I need it.  I’m already going to need Stallone and Schwarzenegger to help me close it.

Ah to be going home.  A list of items to accomplish (buy shampoo and underwear.  Visit friends and family if time allows after shopping for shampoo and underwear).  An even longer list of food I want to eat.  Shreddies!  Lobster!  Scallops FRESH FROM THE BAY OF FUNDY!! Garlic cheese fingers WITH DONAIR SAUCE DARN IT!!  Tim Hortons!  Is Tide and Boar still open?  The new hibachi grill place on Main Street where I don’t have to remember the name because it’s the only one?

Dads hodge podge made from fresh veggies from his garden in the front yard!  Strawberry shortcake made at home.  Cheesies!  Most definitely not made from home.

Old friends (long-time friends I should say!). Well, we’re all old too, aren’t we?  Ha ha.  Well, YOU guys are getting older.  I’m staying the same…

And a NEW list – a list of things I want Ellie to experience once we’re there.  The atlantic ocean.  My Grammie’s hugs.  Nana’s cuddles.  Papa’s grin.  The hot summer days, the cool Canadian evenings.  Family.  Friendship.  Love and belonging.

No matter how far away we roam, we do find other places where we are loved and to where (and whom) we belong but it’s never as effortless as it is at home.  No one’s life is perfect  but if you’re lucky, if you’re really lucky, home is where you get to soak up a lifetime of happy memories, just by dozing in the armchair, or coming down for a late breakfast.

I wish that for Ellie.  More good times than bad.  More love shown than held back.  More praise given than refused.  More ‘being comforted’ remembered than the thing that caused the need for the comfort in the first place.  I wish all that for her, and more.

To home, James, to home!