Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Feeling Homesick

I come from a very large family.  I have four older sisters and four older brothers.  Yes, I am the youngest of 9.  I have always had a very close relationship with all of my siblings.   


The Friend Family:  Standing From Left To Right:  Mary, Zippy, Roy, Richy, Ray, Michelle 
Sitting From Left To Right:  Dad, Mom, Sandy, Karen  
Not Pictured:  Sharon - She couldn't get off of work that day.  Karen and Sharon are identical twins.

They have been my role models and my best friends.  And we always spent a lot of time together with big family dinners, summer camp outs in the back yard, karaoke nights, outdoor summer barbecues, fishing trips and visits to the lake.  Even something as simple as going to the movies or sitting at one of our houses watching TV together.  But now I live far away from them.  And plane tickets for a family of 5 (my husband and I have three children) are just not financially possible for us right now.

I have actually not seen any of my siblings in 11 years.  And it has been 9 years since I last saw my Mom (we lost my Dad in 2005).  My oldest daughter was 9 months old when we moved away, and my other daughter and son were born here.  So they have never met their Aunts and Uncles.  And they don't really remember my Mom.  She last visited here in 2010.  My daughters were 1 year and 2½ years old then and my son wasn't born yet.  That makes me really sad because I love my Mom and all of my brothers and sisters so much.  So I tell the kids all about them and I show them pictures of each of them.  And they get to talk to them on the phone once in a while.  But it isn't the same as actually getting to know them in person.  

Moving was a bit of a shock for me.  I went from seeing at least one or two of my siblings every single day and spending time with them, to not seeing them at all.  And my Mom and I did everything together.  We spent time together every single day.

Holidays are the worst.  For my entire life prior to moving, we had huge family dinners on holidays.  And not just on holidays, we would often get together just because we wanted to.  Especially in the summer.  There was always so much good food at those dinners because each person brought two or three food dishes to share.  And there were so many people because everyone would bring their families.  We would spend the entire day talking, laughing and playing games.  And now it's just my little family of 5 and my husband's parents on holidays.  It always leaves me feeling like there is something missing.

My kids don't even realize how big our family actually is because they have never gotten to experience being around them.  But someday I hope we can change that.  I would love to take them to see the place I grew up and to let them experience those family get togethers.  But until that happens, I will have to settle for telling them all about how it used to be.  

That's what's on my mind today.  Feeling homesick.  I'm not missing the place so much as the people.  As my sister would say:  "I need my family fix" because I am in deep withdrawal from them!  
     

6 comments:

  1. I'm so sorry you're missing your family and feeling homesick. Can you skype them? I know it must be hard on you being so close to your family and not being able to visit with them.

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  2. I'm so sorry, feeling homesick is really rough!! I lived in Japan for 5 years pre-marriage/kids and felt homesick quite a bit, but I'm lucky I had the ability to fly home once a year to see everyone. Now I'm thankful for Skype, we live far from both sets of grandparents and my sister and her family, but we try to skype once a week so at least they have a bit of "face time".

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  3. This must be so hard for you! I am about to go visit my whole extended family and I will be giving them even bigger hugs and feeling so lucky we have this time together.

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  4. I hate feeling homesick. I used to get it all the time when I was younger.

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  5. I am so sorry that you are feeling homesick and you have not seen them in quite sometime so I understand what you are feeling. I too live far away and have not seen some family, members for quite sometime.... my sister and her kids.... so I need a family fix too. Thank you for sharing :)

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  6. Sorry you feel this way. Being a military family, I go through stints of not seeing my family. I have a saying that the road goes in both directions. Those that can travel should make time for you (especially in my situation...approval process for leave) and meet up somewhere.

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