K THANX BAI

It's finally time for me to say goodbye...for now. Tomorrow, we're off on our first proper holiday of the year and my parents just cartwheeled across their living room after reading this sentence. Tomorrow, I'm heading home after what seems like a really long time. Or as my mum would be quick to point out, after 2 years, 4 months, and 5 days. I'm not joking, she actually said that once I confirmed the dates.

I remember almost packing my bags last year to arrive home in time to celebrate our first wedding anniversary there because one of my best friends was also getting married around the same time, but some things got in the way and we had to put it off. Then, we decided to do a bit of other travelling and exploring with a lot of encouragement from the parents. Finally, we made the commitment to arrive in time to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. If there was any time to visit them in 2017, it had to be for this big milestone of my dad's. And guess what else is super exciting? My best friend who was getting married in May 2016 is having a baby in a few weeks and I'm going to get to hug a cutesy baby bump in exactly one week!

However, I think it's crazy when I look back and realise that it's actually been so long since I visited them! When you're living your life day to day, you never notice how quickly time flies even when some days seem to be much longer than the rest. As they say, and as I've repeated a million times in the past, "the days are long, but the years are short."

In comparison to the huge chunk of time spent away from my family, the time I will be spending with them during this holiday almost seems minuscule. But in a lot of ways, I feel there's an undeniable beauty to it and I'm sure all our loved ones would agree. Last evening on our walk home from the grocery store, Shane and I were discussing how our time in India will be fun, and reconnecting with friends and family will be fulfilling. But at the end of the day, this is home and this is where we'll return to. We were not necessarily referring to this city, this country or even this apartment that we live in, but the feeling of home which to us by now is a lot different from what it used to be two years ago.

What I'm trying to say is that I will return home, and I will return to regular blogging (which to me is an extension of "the feeling of home") once I'm back. I'm taking a small hiatus and will update this space as and when I get time or feel like writing. There just won't be any discipline to it because I've kind of had it with discipline, planning, and list-making in the past month (there's a sentence I actually thought I would never say). So I'm signing off for the time being.

Stay safe and happy! Until next time :)


Photo credit: acl John via Visualhunt / CC BY-NC-SA