Summer Trip

Every year since my daughter was born we've gone back to Seattle for the summer.  When I first moved visits to Seattle were generally for Christmas, but that is hard to do when you have a little one in the mix, not totally fair to keep the baby away from her daddy and Italian grandparents every Christmas, so now we go every summer.  I am also quite happy about this since Italy is inundated with tourists all summer and the weather is unbearably hot!!  I don't think I'd mind the heat too much if things were air conditioned like they are in the states, but unfortunately they aren't.  This also means that you need to sleep with the windows open, which of course means LOTS and LOTS of bugs!! YUCK!  I'm not sure if it's the climate but it seems like there are an awful lot of them here compared to Seattle.
Of course like every year, I am getting ready for the annual trip back to my homeland.  And just like every year all of the locals are asking me when I'm leaving, how long I'm staying and if I'm happy about it.  Some people don't totally understand how I can be away from my husband for the summer, others can.  Some don't understand the opposite, How can I live so far from my parents, and therefore understand why I go away for such a long visit. But the answer to their final question is always this: "I am always torn, I am really happy to go home and see my family and visit my country, but I am sad to leave my husband here at work.  Then I am always excited to come back home to be with him, but sad I have to leave my family once again."  And it's true.  On one hand it is really hard but as the local bakery owner said to me, "at least you are always 50% happy about it!"  (Most people come home from vacation and are NOT happy, because it is back to the routine and back to work!)
So yet again this year, I am a bit melancholy, I am really looking forward to my summer with my family and all of the things I have planned, but I am also sad to leave my friends and family here, my daily routine and my life.