homesick (it doesn't take much)

My life, pre U-DubbyaEm, meant living no more than a 2 hour car ride from home. It now takes a plane 2 and one-half hours to get there from O'Hare.

It was always easy from Greenville or Athens to slip away on Sunday mid-morning and magically appear at Aunt Bobbie's Sunday table, just about the time everybody was coming home from church. And never mind the asking "are we having lunch at Aunt Bobbie's?" or "is there enough for everybody?" It's just what we did. And it's what they still do, except now, I'm passed around on a cell phone (almost) every week.

Last week, when it became warm (more than 70F) for a couple of days in a row, you could actually SMELL the ground thaw in Wisconsin. It was amazingly similar to one of my most favorite aromas, the tidal marshes of the South Carolina Low Country. It's a dank melange of odors that is at once recognizable and transporting. Next time you have an oyster roast, pull them out of the pot, throw them out on the board, and and hang your head over the steam. If they are east coast oysters, that's the best you can do without actually being on the Intercoastal.

And, of all things, the Family Circle Women's Tennis Cup was on TV last Sunday. Takes place on a snooty suburb of Charleston called Daniel Island (near Wando HS, Mt. Pleasant, SC). My God the scenery! Brilliant (Carolina) blue skies, moss in the trees, palmettos swaying in the bay breeze, and girls with no slouch (I hear they even work at the Home Depot!).

I've been forcing the Spring issue here: trying to "man-up" and wear inappropriate attire for the weather. For example, I walked to the corner bagel shop this morning to get breakfast for me and the lovely young woman in a pair of shorts. It was flurrying. Damn.

It will be May 23 soon enough, though. I will load up the truck and head 14.5 hours south and east for a solid 4 weeks of familial, cultural, and meteorlogical re-immersion. It will surely be a cure for what ails me.