This weekend, I missed home.

Yes, I still have regular bouts of homesickness a year and a half in. I think it’s one of those things that I will always experience. Kind of like stress. Haha. But, on a good note, being homesick was only part of why I missed home this time.

The main reason was that I missed Wawa.

I realized on Saturday that I actually have no idea where Oregonians go to get cash since there are no Wawas here. Hahaha. While driving around town, I literally thought to myself, “Where do people go when they need cash?” Hahaha. (This is Kenny’s ‘family management’ area – usually when I need cash, I tell him. And since he was away, and since there are no Wawas, I perceived myself to be in quite a pickle. Hahaha.)

Yes, yes, yes. I know that I can go to a bank, or Target or the grocery store, but all of them seem like a separate errand commitment when you are from Pennsylvania and used to popping into Wawa for some transaction-fee-free cash. Plus, we kept our bank accounts in Pennsylvania…so that’s a mighty far drive to get some transaction-fee-free money.

(Side note for West Coast readers, the beauty of Wawa is that it’s a quick-stop, clean convenience store that has marketed itself partly on the draw of having ATMs that don’t charge fees. Wawas are about as abundant in the Philadelphia area as Starbucks is out here in Portland. Hmmm. I may have just solved this conundrum – maybe the ‘bucks should put fee-free ATMs in their stores. Voila – problem solved and potential profit increases for Starbucks. Going off the notion that you typically always grab something else when stopping in Wawa for cash, I can totally see folks grabbing a latte when then they take out cash at a Starbucks ATM.)

We do have 7-11s out here. And Plaid Pantry. But they are not Wawa. Or a Starbucks with an ATM.

Sigh.