Chinese Food

If I close my eyes, I can still see the warm yellow walls and comfortable couches in the living room. The big kitchen with lots of natural light and a clutter of stuff on top of the microwave (that was always the place where we dropped mail, keys, and other assorted items), and plants all over the place. I loved the backyard. It was my own green space where I was free to create gardens and hang lights in the trees and spend hours on days off reading in one of our lounge chairs.

It's funny how much of it I remember. The feeling of being content in your own space and knowing that friends were nearby and that we truly enjoyed living there. Spending hours watering my herbs and flowers (and often myself if it was a hot day - I'm still like a little kid that way) and the satisfaction of watching them grow.

That was our last place in London, Ontario.

Last night was a quiet night - we were invited out to this posh club called Camoflauge but had to pass because the cover charge would have cost about $40 after the exchange (apparently the club owners feel justified in charging this because celebs like JayZ and Usher party there). So instead we took a really long walk around Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, ending up exploring the area around the Serpentine River. The area is gorgeous and I always look forward to being around the water.

After a debate over what to do about dinner, we got some Chinese food from Tesco and made our way home. Chow mein and black pepper steak stir fry with rice... mmm...

As we sat there, eating our dinner and watching Monty Python's Meaning of Life, I looked at Jeremy and realized we were drinking and eating Chinese food. Might not sound like a major epiphany to anybody else, but when I mentioned it to him, his eyes looked sad too.

We used to do that with a very good friend back home two or three times a month. It was a common theme for Friday nights with one of my best friends too and reminded me of how far away everybody is now. Feeling homesick is like getting over a breakup - little things keep on reminding you about it, but there's nothing you can do about it, nothing will change, and you simply have to get over it and move on.

When we moved a lot of people said "you never know - you might just stay there forever..." I have this certainty that this will not happen - little reminders like last night that tell me I can make my way anywhere in the world, but Canada is home. Where I can drink Tim Horton's coffee, complain about the snowy weather, watch hockey every weekend, and - even if it's a 4 hour drive - eat Chinese food with my friends on a Friday night.