Home/Family/Friend/Starcraft-sick

“In a perfect Friendship this Appreciative Love is, I think, often so great and so firmly based that each member of the circle feels, in his secret heart, humbled before all the rest. Sometimes he wonders what he is doing there among his betters. He is lucky beyond desert to be in such company. Especially when the whole group is together, each bringing out all that his best, wisest, or funniest in all the others. Those are the golden sessions; when four or five of us after a hard day’s walking have come to our inn; when our slippers are on, our feet spread out towards the blaze and our drinks at our elbows; when the whole world, and something beyond the world, opens itself to our minds as we talk; and no one has any claim on or any responsibility for another, but all are freemen and equals as if we had first met an hour ago, while at the same time an Affection mellowed by the years enfolds us. Life—natural life—has no better gift to give. Who could have deserved it?~The Four Loves

I came across this passage in my reading today and could not help but get a bit choked up. For many, homesickness may not be an issue, or perhaps they are unwilling to express the affection they have for people miles away, or worse, perhaps they have no affection at all. I get homesick.

It is homesickness that immediately evaporates when your mother tells you to take out the trash, or dad pesters you about what your plans are for the day, or brother ignores all reason and buys a Playstation 3, when X-Box 360 is the obvious, rational choice, when friends make other plans without you, or invite their girlfriends from distant lands to ruin your Christmas break. I hope everyone catches the hyperbole. The fact of the matter is, I love all the oddities and the things I have grown accustomed to over the years with family and friends, and now I miss them.

Of course, being homesick does not mean I regret coming to England, it just means I am longing for the familiar. I assume friends from back home are reading this blog (if you’re not shame on you); if you are, I couldn’t help but parallel Lewis’s description of friendship with our own.

I miss the “golden sessions.” The times when four or five of us after a hard (or not so hard) day of ping pong work come home, slippers (or flip flops in most cases) on our feet, spread out in front of the television or out on the patio, Coke Zeros at our elbows, the occasional slice of Round Table (purchased by someone other than myself), giggling at the same D. Brent jokes, rehashing the same Padres game for the fifth time while I try to recall from memory who plays what position, all freemen and equals.

There’s times when I'd trade all the cathedral visits, all the great Oxford moments, all the wonderful knowledge and teaching for five minutes of kicking my brother’s butt in a two-player game of COD, making fun of Oprah because I know my mother likes it, asking about the likelihood of Carne fries for the sake of saying Carne fries, one episode of The Sopranos with Broseph, getting a 20oz. Coors Light at $1.50 from the Cairag for Monday night football, getting text messages at 10:03 on Saturday morning asking why I’m not at Safari, sheepishly asking whether or not Shrek Super Party is on after church, the list goes on and on and on. It’s those little things; there are no little things here.

I know I don’t speak with most of you often, or keep in touch the way some friendships do; I want you all to know you are deeply missed. End of term is 2 weeks away, and then it is 10 weeks till I’m back in the Home of the Brave. You are all in my thoughts and prayers, constantly. For real? For real, real son.