Strange Reactions

This week, I received a package from home. My mother just finished reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and felt that I would like it, as we have very similar tastes in literature. After a few mishaps of delivery, the book arrived on Saturday. I opened the book and began to flip through it, like we all do when standing in a bookstore. I flipped to the last page and saw a few words my mother had looked up while reading the book. After a year of not seeing my mother, the mere sight of her handwriting, for the first time in a year, brought tears to my eyes.

It's strange, the things that remind me of home. We had a party over the weekend to celebrate our niece's marriage in the US. (Go Chelsea & Shawn!!!!!) While preparing, I found myself thinking that I was preparing for a Thanksgiving feast at our house in New Jersey. I had to remind myself, actively remind myself, that I was not in the US, but instead in India. It was such a bizarre sensation. It was more than a mental game I played on myself. I physically felt that I was back home. I don't know how else to explain it except to say that it was one of the most powerful moments in my life. And all I was doing was sautéing garlic!!

With my one year anniversary of being in India looming, it's difficult to ignore all that I've missed back home. It's not just the large events that have taken place, but the minutia of life. The dinners that my brother has with my parents every Sunday. The lazy afternoons that Brad's family spends around the pool. Shakespeare in the Park with friends in NYC. All the little things.

I wonder, when we're back home, what things here I'll miss. That, for me, is one of the most exciting things about coming back home. Something that I am anticipating. What memories will be evoked back home? Will I be more forgiving of the things that drive me insane here once I have the perspective of distance? What are the things that will strike me when I'm driving on a back road somewhere?

More than anything, though, I would just love to see more of my mom's handwriting.