Things at home I'd like to experience:

It's early still to be thinking about going home. As Andy pointed out, I still have three full months left in the land of expansive social programs, mediocre chocolate, amazing pastries, beautiful cheeses, and state-subsidized rail.

Here is an inexhaustive list of things I want to see, eat, and do when I get back to the USA.

Mom's homemade pizza, Mom's homemade chicken wings, Mom's homemade tomato sauce, eggplant and zucchini parmesean, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made with Smucker's peanut butter and Dad's homemade strawberry jam, Dad's homemade chili, a real cookout of Hoffman hot dogs, hamburgers, and Italian sausage, s'mores, Carousel Mall, Erie Boulevard with Andy, Taco Bell, Onondaga Lake Park, Green Lakes, Jamesville Beach, real American television, driving, Andy's pork chops with egg noodles, understanding ambient conversation, Pops and Grandma's house in Oswego, Wegmans, doing some real reading, State Fair, true independence, Triscuits with extra sharp New York state cheddar and pepperoni, the blue Doritos, Kool-Aid, Cheerios...

It's not just the things. A lot of this has been sent to me in care packages. And I love it. But there's also the experience. So much of these "things" have strong emotional relations. Funny how all of this I remember with sunny days and bright smiles and happy times. I miss home a lot.