Our younger son was particularly homesick and we kept telling him, "Home is wherever your family is," and yes, of course, it was true, we were all together. But part of who we are rests in our homes even when we aren't there. He missed our fish and I missed our dryer. I think they call these creature comforts. Well this creature has said thank-you to her bed and pillow each night since being home and is a little more excited to do laundry than anyone should be.
We miss having the Adriatic close by and what the boys referred to as "The Rocky Beach," are we going to the "Rocky Beach," they asked or "Katarina"- the island we went to almost every other day. We miss having ice-cream together every night. We miss being together more. With home, comes the things that have to get done, like going to work for eight hours. But work we must.
On this trip we realized that we really can live together in a fairly tight space, with limited clothes and entertainment options. That we can share meals with family and friends and be okay with others doing things for us. We laughed, we paddled a small boat around the island of Katarina where we took turns jumping in the deep see through ocean with the open Adriatic on one side and Rovinj on the other. Sometimes we cried like when our goggles got lost in the ocean, or as we started calling them, Gurgles. Why? No reason, it's just our thing.
We saw dolphins, real and wild, on an evening boat tour around Rovinj and the surrounding islands. While the rest of the boat was full of adults and a few, unbelievably well behaved kids, we were shushing each other and asking, pleading, begging and maddeningly asking the boys to stop playing Star Wars with their hands, their feet and some really cool light sabre noises. In their defense, they were little angels for the first set of dolphins, but we should really know that imaginations have no timetable when Darth Vader makes an appearance.
That night, after dinner my son asked, "Are you still coming for ice-cream," as I was still sulking a little, "Of course I'm coming for ice-cream," I said as I hugged the two of them, "Weren't those dolphins really cool?"
 |
| Darth is demanding the return of his gurgles as he patiently stands guard above The Rocky Beach. |
