Well, they’re here: the mid-cruise blues. Being on a deep-sea research ship is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime, super-cool, never-to-be-missed opportunity for me to see some cutting-edge science and meet some amazing people, but let’s face it. You can’t take the world with you! That being the case, there are definitely some things I am missing right about now. Some more than others!

My family. I have a wonderful husband who has bent over backward to make this opportunity possible for me, and I know he’s made a lot of sacrifices while I get to sail the ocean blue. I am so grateful for the chance to come out here, but I sure do miss that guy! My son just turned four before I left for Barbados and I’m missing him, too! Halloween is coming up, which is such a big holiday in our house. Trips to the pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, and trick-or-treating in the crisp fall evening air (or rain, as is usually the case) are all going on without me this year. I just get to see the odd picture on facebook. I made my son’s costume (Tigger!) before I left, but I won’t get to be there when he dons it and heads out with his empty treat bag.

The Pacific Northwest. Where I live, which is outside of Vancouver, Canada, is very rainy, and as a result, very green. Lots of trees in every shade of green that you can imagine. Open up a crayola box and there they are: olive green, asparagus, granny smith apple, forest green, yellow green. Out here, I don’t think I’ve seen anything green in weeks. The vegetables have been gone for a while now, so there’s no salad. No broccoli. (Not that I’d eat it anyway…those who know me, know that. But still…) Blue is a beautiful color, but when all you can see every day is the ocean and the sky and the ship, and they’re all blue, you get a little wistful for other colors! Out here in the mid-Atlantic ocean, the weather is lovely: warm and mild, sometimes breezy, almost always sunny. And while it is nice to wear shorts and a t-shirt every day, I miss the autumn colors and the cool breeze blowing the fallen leaves around. When I get home, I’m going to have to put on a jacket. And I think I’ll enjoy that!

Photo by TheOtherJohnC

Everyday life. There are so many things one does in a day that one takes for granted. Drive to the store. Drive anywhere. Go grocery shopping. Make your own dinner. Watch a TV show. Walk more than 30 feet in a straight line. When you don’t get to do any of them, you can get kind of misty-eyed thinking about them. Now I’m not saying I’m looking forward to doing my own laundry, or sitting in traffic, or doing the dishes, but I will definitely enjoy sitting on my own couch with a nice warm chocolate chip cookie (straight from my own oven), watching one of my favorite TV shows and snuggling with a sweet 4-year-old. And I sure can’t wait to hit that first Starbucks!