It's the Little Things

Over the last little while as we've settled more into our new home, we've begun to miss a few things. One of the first things I started to miss was sour cream (which is kind of weird because this country produces a lot of dairy products). When we make our famous brownies, we miss quality cocoa. Carl misses good coffee; I know, kind of weird being in South America!

But in reality, we can make due with instant coffee, when you trade for bananas in your yard, fresh oranges, papaya, watermelon, strawberries, apples....and many other cool South America fruit.

Sometimes, however, it's not that the things you miss are all that important, but what it is is that you miss the familiarity of home.

So a few days ago, when we were in the large Fidalga, I stumbled on a couple of things that reminded me of home. There were a few North American hair products, I found some Hellman's mayonnaise (though I didn't buy it because we don't eat that!), I noticed there were a few games that were in English, but the funniest thing, or maybe the most comforting, was an English book on Canadian Christmas Traditions. It was hilarious to find something like that in the grocery store. I wondered if some Swedish guy living in Arizona compiled this book and could only get it published in South America, where not a lot of Canadians are in the market for a book on regional Canuck Christmas activities.

As I stood there, I glanced up and thought for a second that I was in the tidied Big Lots in Fresno. It was all around a weird experience. I knew I was in Santa Cruz but with the book in my hand, I could have been in Zellers in Winnipeg.

The experience didn't really make me feel homesick, it just reminded me that this world is really a small place, you're never really far from home, and it's in the little things that remind you of that.