A Response to Longing
Powdered Hazelnut creamer. There was a time when powdered hazelnut creamer, unexpectedly discovered on the shelf of randomness at the Indian-run supermarket, literally elicited a squeal from my mouth. And it motivated my arm to sweep every one of them from the shelf into my basket, and then to text every expat I knew to […]
Leaning Into Expectant Hope
Surprises are great, but anticipating the event is half the fun. Last year, my parents flew halfway across the world to spend the holidays with me. I was proud of my seventy-something mom and dad, bravely enduring long flights, navigating connections in foreign lands, and facing jet lag head on. When they purchased their tickets, […]
And This is Why We Velvet Ash
Almost 10 years ago I wrote a blog. I guess it was a blog, maybe it was really just more of a long post on Facebook. My hometown had just gone through a devastating tornado that killed 153 people, and I sat half a world away watching it unfold. I couldn’t sift through debris with […]
Expect Nothing, Hope Everything
MKs and TCKs such as myself are very good at lowering our expectations. We don’t expect to live in stability. We don’t expect friendships to last. We don’t expect to fit in or belong. We don’t expect to be home for the holidays or to see our family often. We may not even expect to […]
This Week’s Theme: Expectation
“Advent acknowledges shadows and dims them with burgeoning light. So we wait in expectation for the full, radiant, overwhelming light to one day wipe out all darkness forever. This is the hope of Advent.” Tsh Oxenreider, Shadow and Light: A Journey Into Advent As expats and journeying foreigners, we are marked by expectation. These expectations—for […]