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Sunday, Jun. 14, 2009

CREEL COLUMN: Return to new home a relief

People say home is where the heart is and, if that’s true, my heart has relocated to Downham Market, England.

I don’t think I realized that Downham Market had made the conversion from where we lived to home until we arrived back from our stateside holiday last Sunday.

After more than 20 hours of traveling, first by plane and then by taxi, I couldn’t wait to see our village and our house. I especially couldn’t wait to see my own bed, and Avery, my 5-year-old, didn’t even make it to his bed. Instead, he settled for his favorite spot on the couch, where he passed out within five minutes of our arrival.

The boys of course couldn’t manage to get comfortable on the flight, which meant very little sleep for my little men, which equates to even less sleep for me.

All three of us had tossed and turned — or at least as much as you can toss and turn in an airplane seat. The two-hour taxi ride home was a different story. It wasn’t hard to tell the three of us were exhausted, and I am sure the melody of our snores had to annoy our driver.

Even after a great nap on the drive home, all of us had only one thing on our mind when we got home — sleeping.

The only problem with this scenario was that in England, it was just after noon, and to avoid jet lag, we should have fought the urge to sleep the day away.

Have I ever mentioned that I am a grouchy wuss when I am tired, which means, yep you guessed it, I lost the fight.

It was 5 p.m. before I joined the land of the living again and the boys were still snoozing.

I am firm believer that the sights and smells of a house are an important ingredient in transforming the house in a home.

So knowing that my little guys had to wake up so that they could return to sleep in a few hours, I used this assumption as my inspiration to wake them.

I woke them up with the smell of our favorite takeaway (or should I say delivery) here in England — doner kebabs, a Turkish dish.

For those who don’t know, a doner kebab is lamb meat cooked on a vertical spit and sliced off, stuffed in pita or naan bread and topped with a salad and chili or garlic sauce — though I prefer the later. It’s yummy.

It may seem strange, but any one who knows me knows I love my food, and enjoying your dinner is a big part of feeling at home for our family.

Having one of our favorite meals reminded us we were home, and being home, no matter where it is, is a great feeling.

I didn’t expect to be missing England after only two weeks in the states and I certainly didn’t think the boys would, but I guess absence of any length makes the heart grow fonder.

Amanda Creel, who was a staff writer at the Robins Rev-Up newspaper on Robins Air Force Base, is married to Staff Sgt. Justin Creel, stationed at Royal Air Force Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Contact her at acreel@macon.com.