A lot has changed in the past 7 weeks. Our lives have gone from primarily based in Southeast Asia to a residence in Florida. A change that we chose and pursued, and yet living into it is all but easy. Starting over. Making new friends (haven't made any yet!). A new school. English and Spanish not Lao or Thai. A flat horizon instead of mountains. It's a lot to take in, adjust to, and accept. Some days I feel thankful and hopeful. Other days I feel a deep pain of homesickness for Asia. Perhaps we will never feel completely at home again now that we have lived on two sides of the globe. Our hearts and lives have strewn themselves in multiple places, and while we have been immensely blessed and enriched, it sometimes feels like a curse.
And we wait out this in between time when our roots haven't yet taken to the new soil. We haven't met our new friends. Our home still feels unfamiliar. We feel like foreigners even though we look and sound local (sort of).
Perhaps the roots will sink in without us consciously noticing. And one day in a few months (or year) we will begin to notice that we truly feel at home here in Florida. I doubt we will ever stop missing or thinking about our other home in Asia, but perhaps we will feel equally at home here. And there will be friends to share life with and gather around our table once again.
