Fall in Colorado starts when the Aspen trees turn from
yellow to orange to a deep crimson red.
It means that you pull on a sweatshirt in the evenings when you step
outside to throw the chicken on the grill.
Fall gusts of wind bring shivers along your neck and handfuls of
crunchy, scraping leaves along the sidewalk.
It means that there are special Halloween movies on television and the
candy aisles in the grocery store burst in colors of black and orange. Fall means football season and Sunday
afternoons of queso dip, tortilla chips, and Coors Lights.
Now,
here in Lesotho, the leaves are changing, the weather is crisp and cool in the
morning, and I’m ready for Halloween and Thanksgiving. I’ve even busted out my Ugg Boots for the
first time this season (telltale sign of winter for us Colorado girls—Ugg
Season). Except this year, the holidays
won’t be coming anytime soon. It’s only
April.
I knew
when I joined the Peace Corps that I’d be missing out on these familiar
comforts of home for a full two years. I
knew that inevitably, there would be weddings and funerals, babies born and
relationships come and gone. It’s not
hard to keep in touch with everyone from home, so these things (hopefully)
won’t come as a surprise as they happen.
I won’t be completely out-of-the-loop when I come home in December
2013. I might be a little shaggier,
stinkier, poorer, and more Peace Corps-looking.
But I’ll have somewhat of an idea on big life events that I’ve
missed.
However,
it doesn’t make it any easier dwelling on the little things that I know are
happening at home as the seasons pass.
The routines. When you’re stuck
in the routine, you forget about how nice it can actually be.
I miss so many routines. I miss eating frozen Kit Kats and ice cream
with a fork with Dad, watching HBO late at night. I miss driving my little sister to school in
the morning and then going to the Einsteins drive-thru with Kristy. I miss getting ready on Friday nights with my
friends, taking shots at our basement kitchen table in between applying mascara
and straightening our hair (“Al, are you wearing heels?” “What do you think?”). I miss drinking wine with Mom on the back
porch while we grill steaks. I miss
driving around with my brothers while they introduce new music to me—way cooler
music than I’d ever listen to. I miss
grocery stores and big fruits and vegetables.
I miss couches. I miss the
morning news and a good cup of coffee.
Here, there is no routine at
all. Waking up every day, I may have an
idea of what might happen… but no two days are ever the same.
Maybe
it was easier last Christmas being away for the holidays (for the first time
ever in my life) because the weather was warm.
To be honest, I hardly noticed that I missed out on Halloween,
Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I think
this colder weather and the changing leaves are triggering some inner nostalgia
for home.
My Mom
gave me some great advice a few months ago when I was feeling particularly
homesick. She said, “in two years,
you’ll be homesick for Lesotho”. I’m
trying to keep that in mind as I think about home. I’m trying to live in the moment and
appreciate what I have right now. Funny
how it takes moving thousands of miles away from home to finally understand
these things.
For
now, I’m going to celebrate the holidays anyways. Not sure how I’ll manage to bake peanut
brittle in a dutch oven, or watch football and drink a cold beer, but I’ll
figure it out. Things always have a way
of eventually figuring themselves out.
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