November Rains

Flea, I'll be home in July it seems. Time'll fly and before we know it, I'll be home again :) The graduation ceremony is about then, and I'll be here till then. I know I shall be missing Nottingham very much and so while I long for the comforts and luxuries of home, this is the time for Nottingham and me.

I resist the fact, from time to time, that I've spent about two years here in England. I think to myself that it'll be nice to have just another year or two on top of this year. But I know if that were the case, I would be taking more of my time here for granted, more like the past two years. Even though I've always made missing home and Southeast Asia a separate issue from my "beyond-the-shores" pursuits.

There's just such a wider world out here. Not that being physically at home grounds us to narrow-mindededness, but that being away from the immediacy of home and familiarity just puts me in that frame of mind. That frame of mind that opens that side of me which is like a fresh new sponge again, soaking in much of what I'm less attuned to at home. And I can't really begin to tell you how much time I've had for self-discovery. It's a blessing as well, that I've made dear friends to keep from Nottingham, although I have comparatively been so much less friendly and outreaching, and perhaps also less deserving, than before.

I do often get the feeling that I haven't made good use of my time, and of our teenage years which whizzed by us so quickly. Then again, the stuff with which I filled up my days and didn't, it's all part of it all, isn't it?

And I hope the part of me in Nottingham never goes away.