Showing posts with label homesick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homesick. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The tides are a turning

Clearly this is the "I miss home" week. It's probably more like an I miss home year. You say po-tay-toe... From family to food to shopping to lifestyle to laundry detergent... errr... laundry detergent? Say it ain't so.

But it is. One of the things that have vexed me since moving abroad is the laundry situation. I've tried every detergent on the market... and I can't find one that I like. Now, I'm the first to admit that I like things the way I like them. I'm not great with change, I'm super sentimental and nostalgic. So that may be playing its part. But the one thing I can't reconcile? No matter what detergent I use, how hot a wash I run, if I use bleach or if I don't, the towels ALWAYS smell moldy after one use (dish and bath towels). What is UP with that?? It's just plain gross. That means they are not clean. You can smell the artificial fragrance through the mold smell... so maybe they're just not using enough of it. But man, do I hate that artificial fragrance smell.

So imagine my delight when I FINALLY found my beloved Tide on a website that imports American food and home products (and there are some RANDOM things that they import... but hey; when you can't find something you love-- even if they're really silly, everyday things you take for granted, it's vexing). It's stupid expensive (about $11 for this teeny, itty bitty 16 wash bottle), but I can't tell you how GIDDY I was when I pulled the first load of laundry out of the dryer tonight. It smelled like HOME.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Missing Moment #162

Today I pulled a washcloth out of the linen cupboard and took a whiff-mmmmmm. HOME. My stuff was in storage for so long and lovingly packed away that I am still coming across things that I haven't really used since I moved here. The washcloth was one of those things.

It was so soft and smelled like home-- Tide laundry detergent and Bounce. And it was sooooo soft. Just like all the laundry used to be. It smelled like my linen closet in Chicago smelled... all those wonderfully clean towels and sheets... it took me right back there.

Smell is such a strong sense... a pipe reminds me of my grandfather, who died when I was 8; Drakar Noir takes me back to junior high and all the cute, popular boys who wore it. There are smells that remind me of Hawaii... and, smells that remind me of home. As clearly laundry detergent does.

Such a silly thing to be missing, but it really did pull at the pit of my stomach... I guess even nearly two years in, I'm still homesick. Or maybe I just need to import some Tide.

(Disclaimer: While I haven't actually been counting the things I miss, I'm sure if pressed I could come up with close to 162...)