You know you’ve been away for a long time
You know you’ve been away for a long time when you
Walk in your old home and examine photographs in the living room as if you were a first time visitor
Wander in the kitchen and can’t remember where the glasses, plates and silverware are
Find great pleasure in soft sheets and wonderful smelling towels
Have uncontrollable desires for typical delicacies and coconut water
Feel like a tourist in your own city, forget the routes and street names, but think it’s all so beautiful, everything has changed yet it’s all the same
Forget your friend’s phone numbers, have to look up names in an old address book you have to update
Get emotionally touched when you visit someone or get a long hug Want to hear the same old family stories as if it were the first time (and laugh and cry as in the first time you heard them)
Seek the revival of childhood tastes and memories like yucca cake, lavender smell and sleepovers at grandma’s
This list is so true, hits the nail right on the head.
Whenever I go home, I look at photographs as if I’ve never seen them before, get lost as I’m driving, which amuses and annoys my family there.
Great post!
Felicia
Coming home after a year and a half without visiting and nearly 10 years of living abroad is a really long time. I have never been away long enough from home (yet!) to experience the things you write about, but I can imagine how it must feel like. Insightful post!