Who Said Returning Would be Easy
If I could write a letter to my weary self in the spring of 2015, as I was surrounded by 20 years of our China life, packed in semi-sturdy fruit boxes from the market… In that stressful season, when my sense of accomplishment each day was how many trash bags I could send down the […]
Losing Identity In The Return
I bit down on my tongue to stop the words I was thinking from flying out of my mouth. Staring across the table at my coffee date, I wondered how I had once been close friends with this woman? I laughed out of obligation, not because I thought her pop-culture reference was funny. While others […]
A Letter to the One Returning Home
Seven years ago, with all my earthly belongings bundled into two 50 pound suitcases, I flagged my last taxi to the airport. I dozed on the 13 hour flight arcing over the North Pole to return back to the U.S. after living in China for five years. I was returning home. If you are preparing […]
The Space He Meets Me
We went out on bikes to visit our sick friend, after the rain, as the sun sunk. The last of the anvil clouds were mountained in the east, beaming back the last light of day. I told Sam it was a beautiful afternoon. We are a sight when we ride. We sport sunglasses and our […]
Welcome to the Table: The Serviette
The Serviette encourages people to share their tables in a way that bridges cultural and religious gaps, shows creativity, and serves others. Julie’s vision both for her blog and for the conversations she initiates with followers from around the world have impacted many. I am one who has been blessed by Julie’s all-encompassing heart and […]
My Heart is Sad
I have a lot of stories about “home,” about how my family and I have wrestled with what home means when we live the life that we do. Just last weekend we went on a three day trip. When we came back to our home, a house that we are house-sitting for a year, I stepped […]
The Question Heard Round the World
The famous shot in American history heard round the world actually wasn’t. Heard round the world, that is. Let’s get all nitpicky, shall we, as it was probably heard by a few. But a common question heard by cross-cultural workers the world over, now we’re talking about ALL. AROUND. THE. WORLD. How long will you […]
Another Untold Story
I was 15 weeks pregnant and still battling “all day sickness.” My husband had left on Monday morning on a school trip half-way across the country and wouldn’t be back until Friday, which left me with my two young sons whom I could barely care for by myself between the nausea, exhaustion and moaning on […]
Heading home
I settled down into seat 34G, disappointed that I didn’t get the aisle. Well, I guess it was to be expected, considering I had only booked my flights from South Africa to the United States that same morning. The 50-something woman who had scored the aisle seat next to me waited until she heard the […]
From Airplane to Car
One of my favorite views from an airplane is the descent into LAX – houses, cars and freeways for miles. All of it looks small, and I often wonder where everyone is headed while they sit in rush hour traffic. Now as I pass an airport on my way to and from work each day, […]
When You Want a Beautiful Home and Don’t Have One
We just moved into our third home … our third home this year. In a few weeks we’ll move again. To another temporary home. (Because our plans changed). We’ve been married almost twelve years, have lived in nine different places, and have never owned a home. In one of our foreign apartments we had a bathroom […]
What If the Color Fades From My Life?
I enjoy being a TCK. I love being part of a family who works overseas, so much so that after we moved to our host country, I began to think that I could never move back to my passport country. To me, moving back would mean living such a boring, dull life and what kind […]