I Can't See Texas from Here

I can't say I don't like Tennessee

The people here have all been good to me

So please don't take offense

if I start to gettin' tense

It's just 'cause I can't see Texas from here

I can't see Texas from here

No matter how I try

it makes me wanna die

So if you see me looking down

I'm trying not to show this frown

'Cause I can't see Texas from here.

- George Strait

My sweet Emily has been bitten by the homesick bug. Bitten pretty badly, in fact, and it seems to be affecting all of us. This morning, she woke me up and said:

"Mommy, I really miss hugging Maw Maw. I think we should go back to Texas today. Well, actually, we need to go back tomorrow because we will have to pack everything up today." 

For the past month, every.single.day, she has talked about going home. Things like:

"Mommy, I miss swinging on the swings with Granny."

"Mommy, I miss baking cookies with Maw Maw."

"Mommy, I want to move back to Texas."
" Mommy, we should take a vacation." "Really? where should we go?" "To Texas."

At first it was only about once a week when we would find her hiding in her bed crying, or sitting the couch looking at pictures of her grandparents weeping her little eyes out. 

But when we were packing the suitcases to come back to Egypt from Jordan, she said, "Mommy, I don't want to go back to Egypt, I want to go back to Texas." And ever since then, her loneliness has increased and she has mentioned it in some form or fashion at least once a day. 

A couple of nights ago Maw Maw sent a message to say that she was going to call and talk to Emily in a few minutes. The girls sat at the computer and waited for about 10 minutes and started getting fidgety, so I sent them to play until we heard the call. At bedtime, we went to check to see what had happened. We had a missed call from Maw Maw, but she was no longer online so we couldn't call her back. And it was bedtime. Emily cried and cried and after I put the girls to bed, I came back and looked at the computer. Before leaving the computer, Emily had put a "crying face" in the chat box.

Today at lunch, I asked her what I could to help not be as lonely and to help her be happier during our time here. She looked at me sadly, and said, "Nothing."

It is hard to know what to do to help her. I've tried keeping her busy and active, but even on a busy, happy day, when I put her to bed, she starting crying, talking about missing her grandparents.

It is sad and my heart hurts for her.