"Absence makes the heart grow fonder"

I was always a bit skeptic of this phrase. How can being away from a person make you fonder? With time, you will slowly start to forget the sound of their laughter and the scent of their hair. You will forget the way they dance and the way they like their toast. Sure, when you see them again, when they laugh or dance, all those things come rushing back. Being away may make you yearn for them, but you no longer know them as well as you used to. At least that is what I used to think. I should have know this phrase was true since whenever I would see my sisters again, it was like no time had passed. I don't know what it was that made me realize all that I took for granted, maybe it is being away from home for so long or my travel mishaps or my friend's car accident or maybe just that I am getting older, something made me see how I took everything for granted in my life before I came here. It was so easy, I could go up the stairs or across the hall or get in my car and spend a day or less driving and I would be with my family or friends. It was simple. They were always there. But the phrase is true. Everyday that I am away from my family and friends, I long for them more and more. I miss those moments, the laughing until my stomache hurts and tears are streaming down my face, the quiet moments of just sitting together, the movie watching, the ice-cream getting, the moments that make memories. I miss those things. I know, I am a sentimental fool. But I miss my loved ones more and more each day and sometimes I feel like the time will never get here that I will get to be with them again. And then I remind myself that time is flying by. This coming weekend I get to go visit my photography friends, my parents will come to visit in 2 months, there are possibilities of seeing my sisters and friends soon and in 5 1/2 months or less, I will be in Minneapolis, back to being across the hall, up the stairs or driving distance from those that I love. And I can't wait. So, all those years that I didn't believe that phrase, I was wrong. Absence does make the heart grow fonder.