I've been ...

... such a mrs. Grumpypants lately. I realised yesterday evening that it's because I'm having a bout of homesickness. It's one year ago today that we flew to the Netherlands, and it feels like an eternity.

What I miss most and what is difficult to find an English word for is 'de vanzelfsprekendheid' (Google wrongly translates that into 'commonplace')
It's the feeling of being accepted with the ease of having been known for a very long time. A place you visit where you can take your shoes off and curl up on the couch. Knowing you don't have to hold back or bite your tongue because the conversation is easy and even if you disagree, there's always more wine in the fridge and we'll let bygones be bygones. It's not being asked about things you don't think are anybody's business but your own. And besides, everyone already knows you are a lefty liberal treehugger.

The cultural divide between me and the place I live sometimes feels like the Grand Canyon to me.
But less photogenic.

Fortunately I have the Man that Rules My World, who's not afraid to dig around in my arm to find a splinter, who works his butt off to make a better life for the both of us and who makes me laugh a LOT. When I'm not being mrs. Grumpypants, mostly, but sometimes even when I am. And who loves me.
That makes it all worthwhile :)

And all this has nothing to do with the photo, except that the flower (I think it's Phlox) is orange. Which is the Dutch national colour.