Addendum: Homesickness strikes on the trail

I totally forgot that while we were doing the Riverside Walk that one of the many times we stopped to rest we sat on a rock by a cute, elderly woman. She told us that her family had gone ahead without her and she was planning on resting until they came back to retrieve her. She was diabetic and had forgotten to bring a snack with her and the time to eat was past-due so she didn't want to push herself.

Having packed way more food than we could possibly eat, I offered her one of our granola bars.

She accepted and we proceeded to chat with her for a few minutes. We asked her where she was from--Salt Lake City--and told her that we were from Utah, too.

"Well," Rachel said, gesticulating wildly, "They're from Utah, but we're not. We're from Egypt."

"Oh, really?" the woman said slightly incredulously. "Where in Egypt are you from?"

"Cairo. But we had to move here so my dad could go to school. But we're going back to Egypt when he's done."

"Oh?" the woman looked at me for verification.

"Yes, my husband did a master's degree at the American University in Cairo so we lived there for two years, which is all she remembers, and we're at BYU now getting another degree."

"My sister was born in Egypt!" Rachel interjected, "And sometimes we like to ride feluccas or visit the pyramids! I don't like camels!"

The poor girl misses "home" so much. She's constantly having pretend phone calls with her friend, Tuesday, and recently we've been playing "fly to pretend Egypt."

Andrew's parents own the apartment we lived in before we moved to Egypt. Someone else lives there now, obviously, and they had asked Karen to fix some plumbing problem in the condo, so last week she asked Rachel if she'd like to go with Grandma to visit the apartment she used to live in.

"The apartment I used to live in?!" Rachel squealed, "Yes! I want to go!"

"Alright, let's go!" said Grandma.

"To Egypt?" Rachel sighed dreamily.

No. Not to Egypt. Unfortunately.

I miss home, too.