Wait, were we somewhere else?

Wow - vacations are like dreams. Especially vacations to destinations far afield, and so completely different from the "norm", I guess.

It has been just over a week and it is like we were never there. I keep trying to recall the emotions and feelings that flowed thru me while we were in both Fiji and New Zealand, and I am more-or-less coming up empty. It is as if I had one of those stupendous dreams that you tell yourself - while you are dreaming it - that you simply must, must, must, remember every detail. Then you wake up and for a split second you do, then you take your first waking breath and as you breathe it out, the dream escapes you.

I feel robbed.

I find myself saying all the things that everyone wants you to say when you come back - "Yes, it was amazing", "The snorkeling in Fiji was incredible", "It was so great to see my Mum" - all that cliche stuff. But it was so, so, much more than that. Images flit thru my mind of small fishes skipping across the water in front of the catamaran that took us from Denaru to Matamanoa, or the sweet way Kane looks just like Ruth did when she was his age when he laughs, or the way it feels just being in the same room with my Mum, after missing her so very much in the time I was away.

I hate that my accent isn't as thick and lyric as theirs. I hate that I can't just say "Hey, let's go for a walk" and then stroll out into the breezy, wind-blown cliff tops standing on the black sand of the Tasman coast.

It was more than I can possibly remember, so precious and beautiful to me. I miss it.