A couple of days ago, one of my best friends (the Magic 8 Ball on the Charm Bracelet of Honor) had her first baby. First of all, hooray and yay! We were college roommates, and she and her husband college sweethearts, so this is such a wonderful event.
It is also the first momentous occasion at home that I won’t be there for. I wasn’t there for the baby shower, and their little girl will be six months old or more before I get to kiss her cupcake head.
I realize that this is the first of many life events that I will only experience from afar. Weddings, babies, playwright friends getting produced, graduations, holidays, and probably some sad events, too, will all go on without me.
With the price of plane tickets, and the distance of the flight, plus wanting to visit Partner-in-Crime’s family in Europe , as well as mine in the U.S.
I usually like to tie my posts up with an optimistic silver lining, but honestly, this is just a sad fact of expat life – one of the compromises that I am learning to own.
Oh, but friends, you can count on me sending you the most original gifts …
Seems like no matter where I live now, there are loved ones I am missing and special occasions that I can't participate in - directly, at least. It is a bittersweet trade-off, indeed.
ReplyDeleteLove that kangaroo puppet! :)
~Tui
I alluded to this very thing in my email yesterday! I've never not had a Christmas with my family. All 6 years that I've lived here, I've made it back for at least two months and have only had to miss out on one other Thanksgiving. This year, with work, I don't have the option of going home and celebrating with my family (newbies aren't allowed to take between Dec 1-when school goes back at the end of Jan/beginning of Feb. The thought of a hot Christmas, without my family (MOTH's immediate family doesn't celebrate) is really bumming me out. While I'm not happy that you are missing out on important events back home, glad to have a buddy experiencing the same things I am!
ReplyDelete@Tui- I agree. I got to thinking that anywhere I live, I'll be missing out on family and friends' life events. As we've gotten older, we've all gotten so scattered to the winds.
ReplyDelete@Dana - That is so awesome that you've been able to have so many holidays with your family since you've been here, but maybe that makes it even harder since it has become such a part of your routine. This is my first Christmas spend with Partner-in-Crime, so that's exciting, but I have to admit that I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the summer Christmas, too. I'm sure I'll keep writing about it to try to work through it, if nothing else!