Whenever I start feeling homesick for Alabama, I try and look at what's good about Illinois. It's hard sometimes. Illinois doesn't have the beautiful southern pine trees that Alabama does. Where we live (Chicago area) doesn't have the rolling hills and valleys, the magnolia trees, the dogwoods, the warmer weather.

But.

Northern Illinois has cooler summers, beautiful snow (well, after the first couple of falls, it ain't so beautiful anymore), gorgeous northern fur trees, miles and miles of corn fields and...

...it's the place where my kids call home.

I want to move south so badly. It fosters my depression and lingers for months at a time. The homesickness gets so bad at times that I am tempted to just pack and move out. But I can't. My boys love this place. This is their home. How can I ask them to give up theirs for mine? It is a very difficult situation.

I will discuss this some more later, but right now I have a monkey on my back asking me to go help him play his new Universal Studios GameCube game.