Things I miss: Arch and David

My bed

The comforts of my kitchen

The grocery store! Who would have thought?

A dog

The today show (sort of)

Friends

Arch and David

Things I don't miss:

Driving

Rushing

Negativity

Complainers

Being overworked

Being overstressed

No free time

No time for friends

Setting an alarm clock

Is the grass always greener? When you think about different things, they sound so much better. If I could just live there, my life would be stress-free. If I could just make more money, I could do more things. If I had more time, my life would be so much happier. If I had more time, I would be healthier. If I lived there, I would eat better. If I didn't eat fast food, I would be skinnier. If I were skinnier, I would be happier.

So I felt a lot of these things and thought to myself, maybe I should go away for a while and see if the grass is greener. And I'm finding out that sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't. I never in all my life thought that I would miss the grocery store, but I do! So yes, the market is fantastic, but the grocery store I have not connected with. I love having the gift of time, but it can be lonely too. I have time to read and walk and play cards and I definitely have less stress, but I don't have companions my age. I miss my husband terribly and although I knew this before, I have found that he is my best friend. Lucy is great. She's positive and funny and full of knowledge. She keeps me company, but for her the same is also true that I don't replace her friends. I'm not sure if I'm healthier or not. I never ate much fast food at home, except for when we were really strapped for time with getting to sports. We eat salads here often, but bread is an every day thing. In America we are in such a carb conscious world now that eating bread makes you feel guilty. I look at all the French people and no one seems overweight. They eat lots of carbs every day. So it can't just be the carbs, it must be what they are combined with, or how much you eat. I think I eat less here, and there isn't snacking which is good. Three meals a day, period. The French also walk everywhere. They don't have a bagger that pushes their groceries to their car, they walk home carrying their groceries.

Sometimes you have to step away from your life to be able to look at it and really see it. When I left home I said to Arch, "I'm going to experience some wonderful things being away, and being away is going to make me appreciate things from home." This has been very true.