Pre-Homecoming

12:01 A.M. The clock has just turned over another day. My trip home is another day closer, and I wonder how the trip will go. I haven't the faintest idea what to pack with the late spring/early summer weather. Then I also need to save room for the much anticipated retail rampage at the mega multiplex malls that America does so well. But much of that is insignificant as I ponder how I will feel when the day comes to get on the plane knowing I will be going home, if only for a short while. How will I feel when I see my family? I've missed them in the past 18 months, and I suddenly realize this is the longest and farthest I have ever been from them. Will I cry when I see them, or will I be too happy and excited? Just thinking about the reunion is making my eyes sting, homesick emotions creep up on me like Christian music into mainstream pop. My mind fills with the most random flashbacks of late night contemplative drives on PCH, drive-thru windows, the beach, mom's cooking, my old apartment in Del Mar, and the list goes on. Will I remember the way to my friends' places? Are those road maps still in my mind? Why do I have so many questions? I feel like I'm overanalyzing, shouldn't I just be glad and worry about packing instead? I guess it's because I know things have changed since I left and to expect everything to be as I left it would be foolish. Yet, I'm not sure how I will react coming back to modified memories of places I once knew so well. I suppose I will cross that bridge when I come to it.