expatriate problems

living overseas means there are a lot of things I miss. every day.

my family. my friends. my cats. my dishwasher and my clothes dryer. my walk-in closet. Chipotle, Whole Foods, Buddy's Pizza and Jimmy John's. New Planet gluten free beer.

I miss texting. I miss running by the canal in Princeton. I miss play dates in NYC and so much good food in Philly. I miss stores that carry clothes for American-shaped bodies and living 5 minutes from Gap and Anthropologie. I miss being able to buy all my groceries at one store. and Target... my goodness, do I miss Target.

I miss campfires. I miss wide open spaces and gently rolling midwestern hills. I miss Lake Michigan and I miss 8-Point. I miss sunsets in the field across the street in Armada. I miss drinking my morning coffee on the deck at my parent's house. I miss East Lansing and tailgate during football season, and margaritas at El Azteco.

I miss my cats... did I say that already?

despite this incredible adventure I am living, there are still moments when I desperately long for these familiar things. please don't think that giving them up was an easy choice for us to make. I clearly remember the moment, a few days after we found out we were moving to Taiwan, when the full weight of what I was going to miss hit me. my parents had called to tell me my Dad finally qualified for the Boston marathon. I was so excited for him, but so devastated that I wouldn't be able to be there to cheer him on. after I hung up I ended up crying on a bench in the mall outside Williams Sonoma. until that point we had only been thinking of happy, positive things about what we would experience. not all the birthdays and weddings and whatnot we wouldn't be there for.

we chose this. we chose to give up the life we knew. and that's what makes it hard - it is our own choice we have to blame for our situation. but if I thought that way I would spend each day here wallowing in regret and doubt and misery. yes, it was our choice to come here. but we chose this life because we believed it would be worth it, despite all we would leave behind.