(Continuing from yesterday’s post….)
My visits to my family on the east coast are never long enough. I admit to feeling strong pangs of guilt that I moved so far.
The strongest emotions hit when the plane takes off from Toronto/Montreal, the easterly city through which I usually connect. The westbound plane to Vancouver is large and it zips across the widest part of the country with impressive and disheartening speed.
While at the Toronto/Montreal airport, I could hypothetically hop onto an eastbound plane and surprise the family on their doorstep, “Look, I’m back to spend some more time!” But the westbound plane is going non-stop 3,000 miles further away. Distance from my family feels, in one blow, so final. (Until the next trip.)
This time, fortunately, I escaped the gut-wretching emotional pangs because I know I will be back in a mere 10 days. Next time, I will not be so lucky as I won’t be back until Christmas.
All this feeling sorry for myself made me realize that time with my family is so limited (particularly emphasized by the 2-day blitz visits I’m making this month). By comparison, even if I blather and have problems prioritizing what I do in Vancouver today, particularly the fun stuff, I must remember I have all the time in the world here… relatively. So… just breathe.