(I am reposting this from my Eclectic Global Nomad blog)
A couple of months ago I took a trip and found that my boarding pass said “TSA Pre-check”. I didn’t notice it until the official at security told me I could take the fast lane. It meant I didn’t have to take my shoes off or pull anything out of my bag and I could wear my jacket. I breezed through security. It made a difference. I had known about it for a while but people told me I had to apply for it and it took forever. For some reason they just gave it to me without asking. I didn’t question it but I did wonder why.
Last year was a busy one. Some challenges and some fun.
My child’s father, Nicholas, died a year ago today after a battle with cancer. In February we traveled to Milwaukee to bury him. We stayed a couple of extra days and saw the Quadracci Pavilion and the Alumni House at the University of Wisconsin.
In July we went to Halifax, Nova Scotia. A beautiful amazing place – Public Gardens, Halifax Part Two. This piece was so good somebody stole it and put it on their Facebook page claiming to have written it themselves. After asking him politely to take it down, I had to write to Facebook to get it off.
I had a promotion on Amazon that gave away my memoir, Expat Alien. I was surprised when 712 people in the US and 103 people in the UK downloaded it. I hope you all enjoyed it! Write a review on Amazon!! Help me out!
What will the New Year bring? My son graduates high school and goes off to college. I’m going to Europe in June. Anything can happen, and probably will. Let’s hope we all have a great year!
This week it is the anniversary of my return to America. We had lived in Russia almost nine years. On Monday, October 24, 2001, a little over a month after 9/11, we were told by the Russian Government it was time to leave. We had until the 28th to get out of town, 4 days.
I spent the next three days frantically sorting through nine years of accumulated stuff. What to take with us, what to leave behind, what to ship later if it was possible. Yes, no, maybe. I boiled it down to six suitcases.
We borrowed money for plane tickets and spent the night of the 28th in Amsterdam. Our favorite city. We ate at Casa di David, and my six year old son fell asleep with his head on the table. We barely noticed. A couple sitting next to us asked us if our son always slept in restaurants. We laughed.
The next day we arrived in Chicago.
“Welcome home!”
That’s what the customs official always says and it sounded good.
My parents met us at a bus stop in Wisconsin and took us to their two bedroom apartment. We were refugees in our own country. No place to go, no job, no money, no belongings.
Life begins again.
As a TCK, I was used to re-inventing myself and starting over. I knew it wasn’t the end of the world.
I spent the first six months in shock on auto pilot just getting through the day. I put my son in first grade since he was six. He had been going to a Russian school and his language was a bit mixed up. They told him he wasn’t ready for first grade. My mother says flunking kindergarten was the best thing that ever happened to him.
I gained about 20 pounds. But I picked myself up and eventually made some serious decisions and got on with my life. After wasting away in a small town in Minnesota for 9 months licking our wounds, we broadened our horizons and looked for work on the coast. My husband found a job in Washington DC and moved immediately. I waited for my son to finish out the school year and then joined him. We arrived in Northern Virginia on the hottest day of the year. Ugh. About six weeks later I had a job of my own.
Every once in a while I think about a book I used to have or a dress I really liked but for the most part the stuff we left behind was quickly forgotten. I chose well when I packed my six suitcases. It was enough.
A few years later, I divorced and became a single parent. I had come to the fork in the road. It was time and it was okay. A couple years later I bought my own home. I have come a long way since that gloomy October day 11 years ago.
You can read more about my story in my book Expat Alien.
