casa

After over three years without setting foot on American soil, I finally had to opportunity to go home over this Christmas break. I spent two fantastic weeks hanging out with my parents and my now-all-grown-up baby sister, siteseeing in St. Louis and lazing around the fantastic downtown apartment where my newly hip(ster) mom and dad are enjoying their first child-free years in nearly three decades. My mom organized what turned out to be an incredible reunion of all my favorite Springfield people, the family friends and high school buddies I´ve missed so much, at an Irish bar we frequented for years. I at last had a chance to enjoy the American culinary variety that has been sadly missing from my life; I ate a reuben, a pan of mac´and cheese, a tex-mex feast, Rice Krispie treats, Christmas cookies, gourmet hamburgers, pad thai, Toaster Strudels, cheesecake, Starbursts (don´t judge, you miss weird stuff when you´re away so long). I think I drank somewhere in the neighborhood of ten pints of Guinness and enjoyed my dad´s two-week tour of the bars and pubs of downtown St. Louis.

Incredible food and drink aside (it really is better in America than anywhere I´ve ever been ) the highlight was seeing my family. The hardest thing about living abroad is the distance between me and my loved ones. My parents and my sister visited me in Zafra in 2011, but I hadn´t seen anyone else since I departed in August of 2010. So this was the first time I´d been with them in a good long while. The cousins who were little kids when I left are now talking about college. The ones who were toddlers and kindergarteners are now kids old enough to politely fib that they remember me. I hope to never again go so long without a visit.

The only disappointment of the trip was not getting a chance to see my great grandfather who, due to the truly wretched weather in the Midwest, was unable to make the trip to the McDermott family party. A Skype date is definitely in order. Love you Great Grandpa!

All in all, a fantastic trip. I can´t say I was sad to leave the 14 below weather in Chicago, but I already miss my wonderful family. It´s 50 and sunny here, guys. Come see me!