I miss...

• Hanging out with proxy parents;
• Trying and failing miserably to take pictures of hummingbirds;
• Parathas, haleem, halwa, palak, ras malai et. al.;
• Sneaking upstairs in the middle of the night to empty the freezer of ice cream;
  
• Taking long walks and downloading Payjee Mamoo's wisdom;
• Repotting plants (okay, this one not so much ;) );
• Driving all day and all night, and still not reaching my destination;
• Praying in the middle of the night at a rest area in Ohio where I feel distinctly unwelcome as a Muslim;
  
• Seeing a guy who died 5000 years ago;
• Hearing a dinosaur... moo;
• Discovering that storks and condors pee on their own legs to cool down (it is their version of sweating or panting, this by the way is something I haven't tried in a few years. Gotta give it a shot next summer =P);
• Coming to appreciate Monet and Japanese Screens;
• Seeing Manet's Beggar with Oysters in real life;
• Looking down from the top of the John Hancock center at night (pretty lights on one side, the powerful blankness of Lake Michigan on the other);
• Seeing a Murcielago, an Elise, and a Phateon on the road;
• Feeling at home.

(I just realized it's been more than a month since my trip to Chicago, and I never blogged about it. It was a great trip, and I returned rested and recharged to get back to work. It's such a blessing having family on quite literally the other end of the world. It's also a reminder of how badly I miss home, and how important it is for me to finish up quickly and return to Pakistan.)