This afternoon, I was sitting on my couch, talking to my mom on the landline and waiting for the rest of the Fork You team to come over for a planning meeting, when my cell phone rang.  I walked over and picked it up, noticing that the caller id read-out said that it was my dad’s cell phone.  I told my mom who the other caller was as I flipped open the phone to answer it and she laughed, saying, “He must be calling from the family room.  I’m in the computer room.”

I answered and, with a phone on each side of my head, said to him, “Hey Daddy, I’ve got mom in my other ear.”

He laughed and said, “Well then, I’ll just hang up and get on the other phone.”

We stayed on the phone for a little while, soaking up the cross-continental family time.  He told me about the job interview he had today (all signs point to yes) and she told me about the wedding gift (a handmade pottery bowl filled with freshly picked blueberries) she was taking to the party that some family friends were throwing for their recently married son and his new wife.  The groom is a guy I’ve known since I was 9 years old.  We were friends at church for most of our childhoods and so I sighed and said, “I wish I could go too.”

In my head, could see my parents nodding in agreement at that statement, sitting in different rooms of the house.  My mom said after a moment, “Oh honey, I do too.”

I have never for a moment regretted my move to Philadelphia.  I love my life here and things get more interesting and exciting every day.  But occasionally, when my sister has a concert or an old friend gets married or my mom goes blueberry picking in the Columbia Gorge on a beautiful, cool Oregon day, I briefly wonder what I’m doing so damn far away.