gutted

"What are you looking forward to about moving back to the States?" a friend asked me recently.

Aside from the obvious [family, friends, NPR], there is one clear answer: ice. I will savour my first big, frosty, iced drink.

End of list.

"What will you miss about living here?" a new acquaintance asked me this morning.

I have willed myself not to think about it. But it would have been rude not to answer.

"Just about everything," I said.

Then I thought about how he had greeted me as he came in the room: "Boutcha!"

Oh, how I will miss that accent and the language that separates us -- and that I maybe have sussed out just a wee bit. Aye, most of all, I'll miss these words.