I’m sure this evening Nick’s plans seemed innocent enough to him – he volunteers every Tuesday evening with inner city boys, then opted to stop by his sister’s surprise birthday gathering, before heading out to get a few drinks with a buddy that’s in town.

It just all really rubbed me the wrong way tonight. I love his sister, but we’d already been to two of her birthday events in the last few weeks, so attending a third seemed like complete overkill. Plus, we just had two Thanksgiving get-togethers this weekend. Isn’t that enough?

Sometimes I can’t help but feel jealous that he sees his family all the time, and can go hang out with friends on a whim.

Living 2,000+ miles from my connections means I get a week every 6 months or so to cram dozens of people back into my life. With so little time the hugs and updates get repeated over & over until I’m in a daze, suddenly finding myself back on the plane and wishing I’d been able to actually relax and hang out with all these crazy people I love.

Missing virtually every birthday, family gathering, holiday, and milestone in my nieces & nephews lives takes a toll…not to mention it breaks my heart to know that the people dearest to me will play a long-distance role in my own baby’s life.

Sometimes I just like to have mini pity parties and wish Nick could trade places with me to understand.

In so many ways I really love being here in Milwaukee and am lucky to have such a great family to be grafted into, but it doesn’t mean these moments of jealousy and frustration won’t occur – because they will… Thankfully it passes and the instances between those times gets longer & longer.