Nostalgia

I think it's a rule that when you're sick you have to miss home at least a little bit. I've had a terrible cold for the last five days, and I unfortunately have given it to Matt, who came home from work yesterday with a very sad and tired look on his face wanting nothing more than to get into bed at 7 and fall asleep watching a movie (very atypical for Matt, at least the early bedtime part). We couldn't, however, as we had made plans to go to the trivia competition hosted by the Emergency Department. Our team won, thanks to our incredibly bright teammates. There were a lot of Aussie questions, so it was hard for us to contribute that much. We still had a good time though and did manage to get in bed relatively early. By this morning Matt's cold was in full force and we were both coughing away, handing each other tissues and Sudafed, feeling sorry for ourselves, and missing home. Matt's working a clinical coordination shift at the hospital tonight, which I know isn't helping his sore throat. Poor thing!

The other thing that I think is contributing to the nostalgia is the weather. For all our lives this time of year has been fall, the time when the air becomes cool and crisp, everyone goes apple and pumpkin picking, and you can even smell very distinct fall-specific smells in the air. It's football season, the leaves change, and Halloween and Thanksgiving are just around the corner. Judy has cloves and cinnamon simmering on the stove, my mom bakes pumpkin pie after pumpkin pie. It's my favorite time of the year.

But there's no denying it any longer, summer is here in Townsville. No fall or winter this time around; we've got another hot and toasty summer to endure and I freely admit that I'd rather it be getting cooler. Maybe you think I'm being a bit of a baby about this (after all, don't I always complain about cold weather?), but I think just as our bodies function on a circadian rhythm day-to-day, we have a sort of "seasonal" circadian rhythm our bodies are accustomed to. Right now mine is being turned upside down and it's a truly bizarre feeling.