What Are We Doing?!

So we're back in the Jing. Bags are unpacked and 500 pounds of American stuff is put away. The air con works (most of the time) in the house (but not at all in the car). I've made doctor visits, vet visits, and dentist visits. We've had Kro's Nest pizza for a "Ican'tbelievewe'rebackinChinaandohLORDIneedsomegoodpizza" fix and to Yao for a "Ican'tbelieveIdidn'ttellayiwhattocookandohLORDIneedsomekillerChinesefood" fix. I bought school supplies, signed forms, attended back to school meetings, and wait--actually went back to work myself! Oh, yeah--so did Mark!



It was a tiring summer. We were coast to coast and drove A LOT. At every stop we caught up with friends and family and ate too much. Everyone planned tons of great stuff to see and do. By the end, if I am completely honest, we were pretty tired and tired of being guests--it's hard to be on vacation for 7 weeks! We were looking forward to being home.


Except look at this nutty group. This is what we leave behind--and they're just a sampling. It really is hard to leave family, even though we'd really only see them once a year anyway because of distance and busy-ness. It just feels so far away here. Sometimes it doesn't feel like there's anything permanent in our lives. My kids will never be able to point and say, "there's the school I went to" or share crazy stories about the time when...They won't drive past the house they grew up in, in the town they know like the back of their hand. They won't bring their children to the park or the lake where they spent so much time. They have no pictures of Christmases with extended family. People come and go and loss is hard, people. You know it's hard when kids ask, "how long will you be in Beijing?" as one of their "get to know you" questions. I don't think any of Ava's cousins will lose their closest friend at the end of 1st grade, then 2 more in 2nd grade, and look forward to losing the 3rd at the end of this year.

We have been so blessed--when I look through our pictures, I see us at the Lincoln Memorial, in the Rocky Mountains, on the edge of Ngorongoro Crater, in the shadow of the Pyramids, and on top of the Great Wall. We have met fantastic people, eaten crazy food, and seen strange and beautiful sights. I just miss same-ness and consistency. I miss small towns. I miss the people that have made up the fabric of my life for 40 years, the very people my kids just won't know all that well. I know that my kids will have more choices than I did. They know of more possibilities and chances and opportunities in places they can't imagine. But, if one chooses to say, "been there, done that, and now I'm putting down roots here forever" I'll understand.