Food and Homecoming

I do feel that expatriate life has an element of sadness to it because I miss my family back in England and would like to be in that situation where I can just call round for a cup of tea.  Our visits back home have to be for weeks and our family needs to accommodate us, we can't just pop round. 

My mother used to get so excited about our visits and upon our arrival the fridge would be full to bursting with everything Iceland had to offer.  Baking would have been done and there would be pies and cakes and biscuits and crisps and sweets for the children.  At an early point in our marriage my husband let on that his favourite dessert was trifle.  My mother took this to heart and there would ALWAYS be a trifle there for him.  "Oh you eat it" she would say, "No one else likes it".  And so he was under pressure to consume the whole thing until nausea set in, feeling obliged to compliment the said trifle and feeling it was rude to turn it down when it was offered for afters EVERY time.  The other thing that would be overwhelming was being given a run down on what food was available to us as soon as we had arrived.  It was like listening to the longest list of 'specials' in a restaurant and, obviously, just having got off a long haul flight, we were unable to take in any information longer than 2 sentences.

So why is it that upon the imminent arrival of my first born back in Hong Kong yesterday, after his year at Uni in England, did I find myself in Wellcome Supermarket with a trolley full of food so heavy I could hardly push it round the shop and considered getting a second trolley? 

And why is it that he feels no remorse to say.  "No thanks Mum, I'm off to Sai Kung for Thai food"!

Obviously I have brought him up to be able to make those kind of decisions for himself and not consider the feelings of his poor old mother who was all prepared to 'feed him up'.

Why is food so important to mothers?  Why is that my new silth like self' still wants to fill the cupboards up with sweet biscuits and crisps because the son is coming home and knowing perfectly well that he won't be interested in it because he can buy really nice, cheap food on the street.  OK OK, its all my fault I know.  Mothers are always to blame.