Absence that does something to the heart ...

My folks have just returned from 3 weeks in Alaska and Canada.

This morning we decided to bundle into the car and head on up to the Central Coast to see them. And I've gotta say it: it was nice to be with them again.

I don't typically feel the need for a 'hit' of immediate family too often. It takes a decent absence for me to feel anything like withdrawn.

Some people are family junkies - and that's cool. But me, I tend to be reasonably content working alone in the day, and coming home at night to an adorable wife and two screaming boys. And now and again I'm happy to touch base with those people we call 'dad', 'mum', 'sister'.

It's not that I don't like them - I'm just kind of a 'low maintenance' guy in that regard, I guess.

But I gotta say it again: it was really good to see my parents today.

I wonder what it is about the return of our loved ones from a long trip that makes us glad to look into their eyes again? There's a special joy in seeing someone who's just returned from a long journey, and I'm not quite sure what it is.

Perhaps it is in the word 'journey' - that we know something has changed for this person, and they will never be the same. And perhaps that touches us most deeply when the blood of that person runs in our own veins.

Anyways, I'm blogging at my sister's place tonight, so I'd better be on my best behaviour, or no chicken pie for me. And it's nice to see them too.

Okay, enough blogging! Away from this diversion, and back into the real world of 5 small children at arsenic hour.