Spring Is In the Air

A few nights ago I walked outside and the weather was downright balmy -- which is not an adjective frequently heard when describing Santiago. If I had closed my eyes and not breathed (as soon as you take a gulp of fresh air the smog definitely let's you know right where you are) I could have sworn that I was in Tampa on a winter evening.


Lately I've been missing Tampa a LOT -- although never in the, "I want to move back there," way. Just in the, "I wish we weren't saving all our money and I wasn't petrified of flying so I could go back and visit more," way.


If there is one downfall of being an expat, it's that you will always be missing somewhere or something. That doesn't mean you're homesick and crying yourself to sleep every night. It just means that places you've previously inhabited and people that you used to know still live on inside you.


If you're an expat, whether you're leaving or arriving "home," (and when you're an expat the definition of the word home is definitely murky) you're most likely saying goodbye to someone important in your life -- whether it be your husband's family because you're leaving his home, your own family and friends because you're leaving the country you were born in, or maybe just friends you have made in a random place you've chosen to set up residency. You're always leaving behind loved ones and cities with memories whether you're coming or going. Goodbye is no longer just a word, it's now the inevitable.



PS. Don't forget to vote. The topics have been narrowed down with a first round of votes and now we're doing the second round to decide what we'll actually write about for our next group blogging experiment a week from today!