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I am happy to report that I am back in Sydney and happily reunited with the hubs. We're a good team and so it's nice to be back in action together.

It's weird, whenever I'm gearing up to leave the US, I get this achy homesick feeling before I even leave US soil. I think to myself, "I love the US and Australia is this horrible, far away place with nothing going for it. Why am I leaving?" Then, the tide changes and once I land in Sydney I'm absolutely in love with OZ all over again and start thinking, "Who would want to live in the US when you can live in Sydney! This place is amazing." Why the flip flop? I don't know, could it be because our trips to the US aren't very often so leaving is always hard especially when you don't know when you'll return? Maybe it's just a case of the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, (or in my case, ...other side of the world!) or, maybe it's just my mind playing tricks on me? My guess... I'm torn between our two "homes." Although the US will always be our main home, we've made a life and a home together in Sydney and so it's true what they say, "home is where the heart is," and I guess for me, my heart is in two places at once.

As expected, leaving the US was unfortunately terribly hard. You would think after going back and forth for three years, now, that saying goodbye would get easier, but it doesn't. It just doesn't. It didn't help that Dad was doing poorly so that made leaving even that much harder and stressful. If I could have changed all my flights without paying heaps of money, I would have and now with Dad back in the hospital today... I wish I had. I feel so bad for my mom having to go it alone. It's been extremely tough lately and she is so strong and brave for dealing with everything that has happened, but one person can only deal with so much before needing a shoulder to cry on, a loving embrace or just knowing that there's someone else there to help. I know she could do with having immediate support and love around her to get through all of this... and I wish that person was me and that I wasn't half way around the world. It's really difficult to have a sick family member when you're so far away- you feel so helpless and a bit guilty for not being there to help. So, anyone reading this, please say a little prayer for my family or keep us in your thoughts.

On top of leaving at such a crappy time, my flight back to Sydney was a disaster. After a whirlwind of emotions and trying to stay strong while I said goodbye to the family, I soon ran out of time. My mom was no longer able to take me to the airport and I quickly scrambled to hire a car and drove myself an hour and a half to the airport. I ended up missing my first of three flights. Luckily there was another flight an hour later and I made it to Oakland on standby where I ran as fast as I could through two different terminals to catch my connecting flight to Hawaii. Finally, I arrived safely in Honolulu, however, I cannot say the same for my luggage. Turns out, it was still in Oakland and it wouldn't be able to make it to Hawaii in time for me to catch my morning flight to Sydney. So, sans luggage, I boarded my flight to Sydney, after having a 6 hour layover, and finally made it home. Now I have the pleasure of trying to get my luggage to Sydney when the airline who initially lost it only flies domestically in the US... fun times.