Homesick

My dear readers...

I am here to bore and unnecessarily punish you once again with my drab and boring blog -that I have been so sadly neglecting! But I had something to share with you all.

Here it is....

Are you ready?

I am homesick.

I know that sounds really weird considering I am sitting in my living room right now. No fancy desk or office. There is no room for a couch in the office, and I think my Sweet Geek would have a problem with me moving all the computers and equipment out to move a couch in. I am sure that would cause our family's version of Chernobyl. And the truth is that I am so terribly uncomfortable with this little child, that anything but a WELL-PADDED chair sends me into waves of agony.

Anyway, I am not like my favorite blogger, Ree the Pioneer Woman. She was born in the city and was dragged by love into becoming, as she puts it, an "accidental country woman." Not me. I am just the opposite.I grew up on a farm. Not just any kind of farm... a HOG farm! Oh yes!! It IS true! I have mucked out barns, scooped poop, cleaned chickens coops (Chicken poo is the worst! Yes, it IS worse than pig poo!), weeded gardens, walked beans, baled hay, played in lofts... Yes, dear readers. I have done it all. Yet somehow I managed to move from a VERY rural hometown (population 248) to one of the 10 largest cities in the midwest!

And not only am I in one of the biggest cities, but I live RIGHT IN the city! You can spit out the back door and hit the neighbor's patio. See!? I AM a country girl!

Now, I don't know if it is pregnant hormones, the difficult situations that we have been facing lately, lack of sleep or the SERIOUSLY lower cost of living (with Sweet Geek laid off, stretching money is right up front), but my heart longs for the plains of Nebraska. Yep, (more proof I am a country girl) you heard me right, Nebraska. Every time I see Ree's pictures of the Oklahoma prairie, it looks so much like home that I feel a twinge of longing.
As I lay awake, trying to drown out the sirens and barking dogs with Sweet Geek's stolen pillow, I long for the quiet, the calm, the slower way of life. I long for neighbors who care -who's kids don't have screaming matches in the front yard. Because in Nebraska, any decent person knows that you simply don't do that in your front yard! All the nighbors would be talking about it to anyone who would listen for WEEKS on end! Any decent person knows that you keep dirty laundry where it belongs -in the washing machine!

I long for a real drive. You know, where a 20 minute drive takes 20 minutes because it is 18 miles -not because there is TERRIBLE traffic backed up by construction. TWO miles in 20 minutes.
I long for old friends, family recipes, working in the garden, canning the harvest, seeing hay bales, and all the little nuances that make country living what it is.

I am homesick, but most of all, I miss these people:

This is my Dad, my Hero, snuggling my little daughter. I missed him very much this past Wednesday -Veteran's Day. I wanted so much to hug hum, thank him, do something special for him. He has a true servant's heart, and served his country for 27 years. He was a member of one of the best engineering units in the world. It is TRUE! They even won an award! But he is the most affectionate person. My little monkeys adore him and revel in being toted around. They also marvel at him cutting their food, getting them drinks, and allowing them to follow him around everywhere he goes. I miss his steady belief that I am amazing (boy, have I got him fooled!), and having a great listener who thinks a lot like me! I like it when we talk about something and come to the same conclusion. I miss my Dad.

Then there is this great person!
My Mom is the one in the middle. We will get to that silly person on the right in a minute (I am on the left). But back to Mom. My Mom is one of the most resourceful people I know. She made homemade bread every week for years to combat a wheat allergy my brothers shared. She managed pinch pennies well enough to stay home and homeschool all six of us -all living and feeding the brood of us on one income. She can do ANYTHING she puts her mind to, and over the years has leaned heavily on her extremely creative spirit to make sure that we had the things that we needed -and then some. She managed to budget great trips for our family! We got to go to Calgary, Canada. And my favorite part of that trip was Lake Louise. We made a trip to Colorado about every year. You have not lived until you have seen the Rockies. But my favorite trip was Wyoming. Jackson Hole is the most amazing place! Conversation with Mom flows. We have the same language! We talk about everything. I miss her nearly every day. I can't wait until this little Monkey arrives! She will come and stay for a whole week! I can't wait.

She researches info on nutrition and taught us to have a healthy life. She continues to encourage and support in healthy food choices, nursing, and creative living. When I am really stumped she always has a way of puting things in perspective for me and finding out-of-the-box solutions.

Not to mention that out of my six siblings, 4 live within 2 hours of my parents. My sister Katie and I talk on the phone at least 5 times a week -if not every day, and she gives my Sweet Geek enough sisterly crap, that I need to keep her on retainer. She is the other silly person that picture, but there is a much better one on my other sister's blog. You can see the photos here.

I saw the need the other day in a very real way to touch my roots when my 7-year-old Monkey See asked me, "What is a hay bail?"

TRAVESTY! UNTHINKABLE! AAAACK!! It is time that I give my kids a good country education! What is a hay bale -indeed!

Sometimes it is just time to go home.

What makes home -home to you?