A son's first hero, a daughter's first love

This past weekend I drove down to the RGV (Rio Grande Valley) to visit my parents. Even though I do this on a monthly basis, the road just doesn't get any shorter. I've grown used to sitting for a 3-hour stretch without a problem, but driving with nothing but the monotony of tires on the road (there's no radio stations out in the middle of nowhere) somehow exhausts me.
The primary purpose of visiting home was to empty out my old bedroom which somehow still has a ton of stuff even though I swore I moved out everything I needed 2 years ago when I came to Corpus Christi. There are more than several keepsakes in there that I can't part with, and although I disapprove of hoarding, I'm still planning on bringing my 300-ish books, a select amount of stuffed animals, and some photo albums and journals.
As I got ready to pack up on Sunday afternoon for my lame drive back to CC, I walked into my room and was hit with a pang of homesickness so desperate I didn't even want to go put my toothbrush away. My dad was looking in through the doorway and I have a thing for not showing much emotion around him, so I stood in the middle of my room and acted like an explosion of memories was not going on inside my head. My dad said how he needed that room to be empty for such and such thing (probably a man-cave, but in my desperation I didn't hear him) and I immediately started blabbing out plans for what to pack first and bring last and what could be thrown away. He interrupted me by walking in and giving me a hug. He said he was just kidding and that no matter how old I grew I'd always be his little girl, and that my bedroom would always be my bedroom. I really needed to hear that more than anything else, given that I've spent about 2 hours each of the past 3 Sundays bawling away in our bedroom because I miss my family, while my not-so-tactful husband kind of sits there and tells me how great it is to have the rest of our post-church Sunday to do nothing.
So after all was said and done, I ended my stay with leaving behind more personal belongings in there
than when I started. I'm sure I'll get around to hauling off everything eventually, but it's nice to know it can stay and collect dust for as long as it needs to. In retrospect, I think my dad and I have a mutualistic relationship... Sunday also happened to be the day when Chris completed his mission papers and now all he has to do is meet with the Stake President and it's all done. With Chris gone for two years and me off in Corpus with my new hubby, things are looking quite lonely for my parents. I'm positive my homesickness will not be cured any time soon (I'm always surrounded by white people and really need my culture) so I don't see myself staying away from home for longer than a month at a time. I look forward to the next time I get to visit and get a taste of mom's outstanding home-cooked food and another taste of Mexico.