This isn’t just a cop out to placate everyone I know out of the fear that they’d all get pissed if I mentioned some inanimate object or restaurant as the #1 thing I’d miss. But most friends and family would agree that they wouldn’t be surprised if I did something that dumb. To be fair this isn’t a ranking just a running list, but it’s probably best to do this one first.
I get so wrapped up in things that I forget that there are other people I need to worry about. I live less than 15 miles from my mom, brother and niece but as often as I see them you’d think it was 50 miles. I don’t go out of my way to be selfish; I’m just thick at times. Ask any woman I’ve ever dated. My mom is recently retired and my brother is recently divorced and because of this trip I’ve been making an effort to see them more. I completely expect to come back from this trip, but just in case I want to get as much in as I can with family and friends. It can be difficult because there are things that need to be done but it has definitely gotten me to focus more on such things than I ever have so I don’t see that as anything other than positive.
My mom hasn’t talked to me much about the trip. Not sure if it is because she’s heard me talk enough about things I’m going to do but never follow through on for over thirty years or something else. I know she is in great health but that doesn’t make me worry any less that something might happen while I’m gone. But this isn’t the 18th Century. Communication is almost constantly available and practically immediate from all but the furthest reaches of the globe. Being raised Catholic just brings along a certain level of guilt, not that it isn’t sometimes deserved.
When I went off to college I got one of those 20 in 1 picture frames. The ones that everyone has hanging in the hallway of their house with pictures of their parents’ wedding and themselves or parents as toddlers. Yeah, well I filled it up with pictures I had taken my senior year of high school and the following summer. One person was conspicuously missing. My mom. Pretty much everyone else was represented: Dad, grandpa, brother, friends. No mom. She noticed that she was missing. My dad let me know about it in a rightfully angry tone. It wasn’t intentional, just dumb.
I’m hoping that this trip turns out to be a good thing for these relationships. If we weren’t taking it then things would probably stay pretty much the same. Maybe this will encourage my mom to sit down and write about growing up on my grandparents’ farm or work on the children’s book she’s talked about. Instead of telling my niece that study abroad programs are a great way to go I can make her curious enough to explore that without having to say a word. Friends might take that trip they’ve always wanted to and we’ll be there to meet them. Who knows?
And maybe you swing by Phoenix before heading out?