On the way home - closing in on repatriation

Well, we got THE letter. The husband's work is taking us home. It's official. It's really happening.  Wow. Too many emotions running through my head.

I'm deeply attached to my friends here. Along with my faith, my friends have helped me to learn, to grow, to laugh and to really understand living where I've been living.  There's no point in moving to a foreign country unless you are willing to 'get in there' and really learn from others about where they come from.  You have to want to learn about other cultures. I can't begin to explain how much I'm going to miss my friends here.  The blessing in disguise is that many of my friends eventually will return to their home countries.  I will then have a long list of awesome folks I can travel the globe visiting.

Part of all the traveling around as my husband's career has moved us from place to place has been the re-inventing of myself.  Meaning, that my core of who 'me' is doesn't change.  The skills and talents I have get the chance to express themselves in different ways each time we have moved. Living here in this region, my skills have been stretched and pushed to their utmost. That is a really good thing. I have had to now resign from some elected volunteer positions that have been extraordinary experiences.  Having to walk away from those types of things has been a very painful experience.  At the same time, I am deeply excited to go home and to try out my new found skills doing something else. It's time to re-invent again.

Watching what my kids are going through has also been profound and at times very difficult.  This school and this place, particularly for Munchkin #2, have been all they really have ever known.  To go back to the home country and to navigate through the school system there is going to be a learning curve. The fact that I am a trained educator should hopefully, enshallah, make a difference. My munchkins are having to decide what toys etc come on the plane with them and what goes on the ship and what goes to charity. It is a very tough time for them. Knowing how I feel about leaving my friends here, I can imagine what they might be going through.

I am very happy we are going home.  It feels very very 'right'.  But, the heart is just totally heavy raging with many emotions.

Peace.

There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

Well, the wheels are still in motion. If things go as planned, I'll be 'home' by mid-December. What an adventure the last 5 1/2 years have been.

Listening to all the politicians in the States during this most recent campaign, it really bothers me when I hear things (I'm paraphrasing a bit...) like, "We're going to make America great again!"  I mean, wow. I think America is already great. For instance......

It's a long story, but years ago I played a very small part in the relief effort after Hurricane Katrina. It was a horrible tragedy, but it was amazing to see first hand how Americans pull together to help people they don't even know.  I've seen lots of money over the years given in places outside of the States to help various relief efforts, but I've never seen any place that is like the States where folks will stop what they are doing and lend a physical hand in helping someone out.  This is America's greatest asset; people who will help others.

America's roads are calm and orderly - seriously.  And I've been in taxis in New York and Chicago, and I can still say this!  When traffic gets backed up, generally folks just wait their turn.  You mostly don't see people trying to shove ahead.  I've seen people go off-road from interstates if it's at a total stop, but not to force ahead but to try to find another route.  There's a sense of, "Hey, it's going to be ok. We're all in this together.  We'll manage."  Again, another great asset.

It's an amazing thing to see folks in the States have political discussions that may get heated but at the end of the day there's still this "We're in this together" mentality.  What a major blessing. 

So as I listen to all the political blah blah blah going on, I can only hope that Americans realize just what a cool place they call home AND that it's cool because folks simply care about one another. 

Yes the U.S. has it's share of difficulties - all countries do.  But, it never stopped being a great country.

Peace.

btw...you can probably guess the country I call home.