Last week Craig and I made the trip northwards to see the family. I was pretty exciting as we met a new nephew, and caught up with 2 six month olds. We going to gossiped all day long about what they've been up to since we last met and I loved it.
It's always a bitter-sweet time going back to my home time, visiting my family. I come from a beautiful seaside town on the North East coast (making it bitterly cold) and I love it up there. When on the long drive/plane/train ride I get so excited and can't wait to get there, I even offer to drive more of the way I know i'm capable of, even though I am not a fast driver. We arrive and we love it, spending days hanging out with my buds and family. It's usually a good few days that we get to see them for (we try to get up for a week when we can). It is so sweet.
I think the only bitter part of the whole trip is the last half an hour of us being there, and that journey always seems about 10 times as long to come back south.
But let's not dwell on that.
I'm amazed how technology can keep me close to family, because sometimes I don't agree with technology but this is brilliant!
I have an app on my phone where my siblings, mother & I (dad doesn't have the right kind of device yet) can message each other for free and send pictures and videos and all sorts. We have email, phone calls and Skype! What a wonderful tool Skype is!
Last week my little brother received his mission call to Ghana. Opening that envelope to find out where and when he would be going to for the next 24 months was a special experience, and I was able to watch that - live - while sitting in the front lobby at work. I was able to see my nephew laugh for the first time (for me) through a computer screen and hear him through headphones.
I'm glad that my family are close and that no matter the distance, we remain close. Until England is smaller or we move closer together, I'm glad to live in an age when technology is good.
The week before the trip north Craig was off work and as we've agreed that whenever he is off work he's in charge of food shopping/cooking as he often has a day off work during the week in lieu of a Saturday of work.
He did an exceptional job, of course. I'm not surprised, I knew he'd do well, a lot better than me, but he managed to make one meal last a whole week - lunch and dinner. He made a wonderful vegetable lasagne that has yet to be finished despite me having one portion everyday for lunch and dinner. In our old flat, we didn't have a freezer so was pretty much forced to eat anything that we'd made more than 2 portions of for the rest of that week so it wouldn't go off, and for the first time I loved eating leftovers for a few days. Of course, we could have frozen it and made it last longer - but where's the short lived joy in that!? It got to the point that today I almost demanded to have lasagne for dinner, not just any lasagne, but that specific one.
I really hope that next time Craig is off work he'll make that again.
