Today

I miss my mom today.

I actually miss my mom a lot of days, but just now - while in my office - for some reason it hit me that by living so far away from home for the past thirteen years, I've missed a lot of important time with my mom. I've missed important time with my entire family, actually. I don't get to attend school concerts, birthday lunches, soccer games, births, baptisms, and the like unless I make a special trip. And I never, never thought I would say this (as in, never....), but I am sort of tired of traveling right now. It's exhausting. Maybe I'm just getting old...

What was life like, years ago, when families lived their entire lives near each other? Or worse, when families would travel west (for example) and have unreliable U.S. post as the only method of communication? We are so lucky to have telephone, e-mail, regular mail, skype...you name it, there is an instant method of communication so that we can stay in touch with loved ones far and near (Morgan and I often skype, and she lives about fifteen minutes from home).

Maybe I'll plan a trip home.