It's been nine days since we returned from a week in Nicaragua where we joined our son Seth as he reported about traveling frugally. In the first seven days that we were back home, I found myself thinking "Last week at this time…I had just spotted Seth in the Managua airport'… or 'Last week at this time, I ate my first quesillo …or 'We were stuck in the mud on a rural road'…or 'We said good-bye as Seth headed off for Guatemala."

Of course, the week before we left home to join him, I was saying to myself "Next week at this time, we'll be with Seth in Nicaragua."

I have been doing this for as long as I can remember—telling myself that …"Next month at this time my knee replacement surgery will be over".. or "Ten years ago at this time we were in Botswana."

Is this weird, or what?