It's Great Here....But

It’s been a month since we’ve arrived in Fresno. The weather has been beautiful, the cantaloupes are amazing (and cheap!) and there are no mosquitoes. And yet we’d have to say that the honeymoon in Fresno has officially ended.

This past week we’ve come to miss home more than ever. I looked on the calendar last week and saw nothing but a doctor’s appointment on it. There haven’t been any coffee dates or games nights in a very long time and I miss that. I miss having deep conversations with people who already know me. Even though I’m a really chatty person, I am finally realizing that I’m not fed by having chit chatty encounters with people.

Carl came home from class and we started to talk about feeling lonely and missing home. Carl misses home because in Winnipeg he knew exactly how to relate to people; he was either relating as a pastor, or a longtime friend, or a brother, or a son. But here, he’s just another student and he’s not sure where he fits in relation to everyone else. I feel like a bit of a lost soul because I don’t have a purpose here in Fresno. I don’t have anything that I’m working towards or a goal, I’m just here. That’s something that I’m not used to at all. I always have been on the go and had my fingers in many pies, so to speak.

We are enjoying seminary life, especially because it is a slower pace and we have more time as a family. But it’s hard to be so far away from our extended family and friends. We’ve started to make connections here in the courtyard, but many people are very busy with school or work. And I think there’s an assumption that we are occupied with our family and don’t have time to socialize.

We miss having a church family and friends to relate to. Kezia was saying a few nights ago that she really missed her Sunday School class and her teachers. And frankly, I miss my Sunday School class too! We haven’t found a church home yet and haven’t made connections with other families, but I know that will come soon.

There are a few other things that we miss from Winnipeg:

Tim Horton’s coffee
An abundance of wheat flour!!
Being able to go for walks in our neighbourhood
Clean air
Health Care
Our church family
Having people drop by to visit in our home
Autopac
The phone ringing
Our house
Being comfortable

But to be balanced and being the optimist me, there are a few things that I’m glad for:

Cheap amazing fruit
Wearing shorts in October
The huge yard for the kids to play in
Palm trees
The phone not always ringing
No mosquitoes
Hearing Spanish everywhere (okay, it reminds me of Braeside)
Being put out of my comfort zone

So this coming week we hope to settle into a church and to connect with other families. It was inevitable that the honeymoon would end and that we’d go through a tough time being away from our family and friends. That’s just life of the Fresno Five.