Christmas 2009

It has been exclaimed all over tv as a Christmas we won't soon forget--with blizzard warnings, almost a foot of snow and plans for everyone changing left and right. My sister worked Christmas eve, Christmas night and the day after and has been stuck at the hospital because the roads into the neighborhood would have caused too much difficulty to get back into the house. My dad picked us up Christmas day to spend the night and we are here another night. In some ways it was more entertaining than being home "alone" versus dad and stepfamily and their friends, but in some ways I am feeling homesick. I'm not sure what that is about exactly. I miss things as they "normally" are--my sister working, coming home and sleeping and me going to work or hanging out--going to church which I haven't made it to since choir practice last Tuesday. Maybe it is the normal holiday stress plus the blizzard that caused me to be overly emotional a lot of the holiday or maybe it was the memories and still not understanding things that caused me to cry when telling my mom about the plans to get over to my dad's for Christmas. I wonder if those feelings will ever go away?

When I was thinking about how I am feeling homesick, I started to wonder in part what it means to be homesick. I remember when I was in college I would call any place I slept home be it a friend's house I was sleeping at or a dorm room I fell asleep in. I've lived in different homes with my parents, the convent, my own places, my sister and even in another state...and I do agree with the addage that "home is where the heart is." I just wonder if people ever really have a specific place to call "home." Especially in a world where everything is so transient...