Back Home in Indiana and Missouri

It has been a while and for that you have my apologies. Over the past couple weeks I have worked to stay present and soak up the familiar. It has been wonderful to be places that we know and surrounded by our loved ones. What I did not expect is that with each passing day I find myself excited, nervous and questioning myself. More on that later.

Last week we were “Back Home In Indiana”. I am pretty sure it is a song…I don’t know the words and am currently not willing to spend the time fact checking myself. To be back in familiar territory and to spend a full week working in the office was wonderful! The office has evolved and changed just in the few months that I have been gone, but it is so sweet how they still welcome me “home”. Sarah and Brett were once again amazing about letting us crash at their house and love on their critters. Bonus: I didn’t try to drive to our old house once on this visit 🙂 (For those that don’t know Sarah and Brett live in the same neighborhood that we used to, just 8 houses away.) We also managed to have our yearly visits with our GP’s, get refills on medications, see the dentist, get a cavity filled (me) and meet up with friends old and new for meals. It was a jam packed 1.5 weeks but it left me feeling fulfilled….as long as I didn’t have time to stop and think. Who else can be their own worst enemy when it comes to not being busy and getting stuck inside your head?

We were grateful that when we left Lafayette we were able to meet up with Jerry’s parents for a pizza dinner in central Indiana. It was great to see them and to have a chance to catch up on their upcoming travel plans along with our own. We are excited to next see them in New Orleans in May 2020!

When we left Indiana we headed “home” to Columbia, Missouri for Christmas. CoMo is a place I have called home since the first time I moved there in 1997 when I was 17 years old (damn I’m old!) to attend the University of Missouri. It has been a home to me ever since. While I still love Mizzou, going to Columbia now means seeing my brother, his wife and my 2 nephews. My parents were in town for the holiday along with my sister in laws family. If you have ever met the Campione family you know that we ate REALLY well for a couple of days 🙂 We laughed a lot, exchanged gifts and spent quality time together. We exchanged stories of family traditions and honored/incorporated as many of them as we could.

Saturday we will leave CoMo and will head back to Indiana with a brief stop at my parents on the way. I am quickly nearing the dreaded packing day. Normally, I wait until the last minute, but this is the packing that I have dreaded since this entire journey began…..whatever I take with me (hopefully in only 1 suitcase) will be what i have with me for the next 4 months. Not to sound dramatic, but let me repeat myself….4 MONTHS! Now let me qualify this a bit:

• I am the one limiting myself to 1 suitcase….if I need more, that is fine.
• We DO have 2 suitcases already in Sydney that I packed back in July 2019. They have spring weather clothes in them because when they were packed we thought we would be in Sydney in September, October and November.
• All my list making skills be damned…..i have no inventory of what is in those bags. NONE!
• I also did not think to take pictures of what was in those bags. Damn you self!
• Things that I do remember putting in those bags: a fleece blanket, a swimsuit, some contacts (no clue at this point how many months worth), a pair of sandals, a pair of other shoes, a purple long sleeve shirt, a black long sleeve shirt, and finally, a new pair of pj pants that I was SUPER excited about and didn’t let myself wear them prior to packing and they have just been sitting there waiting on me.
• Finally, in packing this bag I need clothing for:
  • 5 days of midwest December weather
  • 11 days of Machester, NH weather
  • several weeks of Syndney summer weather
  • approximately 2 weeks of Taiwan weather in March 2020 which Google assures me will be between 50-60 degrees each day

This is a first world problem. I get it. I am lucky, blessed, and supported beyond measure. But in my true honest fashion…..this packing is the one thing I have been dreading! Sure, I can always buy stuff when I get there. What I can’t always do is walk to my closet and pull out that one thing of comfort that I will want on the hard days and even when you are living the dream, there are hard days. This is where you all come in…what would you put in that 1 piece of checked luggage that would give you comfort on the hard days over the next 4 months. No answer is too silly. Please help me pack!

More Later, NB