I started writing this blog at the beginning of my trip back to Southeast Asia. It was a trip that was long overdue, and filled with wonder and love and new friends and reuniting with old ones. It was the first opportunity I’d had to re-visit one of my expat homes (Laos, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Ghana, Liberia, Zaire, France, England), and it was eye-opening and such a joy! Of course, in the interim, I’d learned a bit about the history of these places, including the history I’d lived through as a child. For child-me, they were just home; for adult-me-history-junkie, they are so much more.

Since returning State-side (“Back to the World,” were the popular t-shirts on military bases during the 70s), life somehow kept getting in the way and blogging just took a back seat to other stuff, like:

  • James, my always-best friend, and oh-so-patient husband, moved back to Iowa to be with his daughters and his grandchildren (okay, that’s a bizarre word to type!). He’d missed them for so very long, and the time just seemed right. I miss him a lot, but we talk all the time, and he visits and will do so again soon!
  • I re-found my first love, Rony Ben-Dov. Think Ghana, expat 13-year olds, holding sweaty hands in the back of Mrs. Gamor’s science class, first slow dance (Stairway To Heaven, of course, complete with that awkward moment when the slow dance speeds up and NO one knows what to do!). We’ve built a beautiful life together, and he makes my heart sing and giggle, and I absolutely adore him!
  • I found my father. My very real, very wonderful, entirely welcoming father. And brother, Patrick and sister, Lanelle, to join me and Sean as siblings. How ’bout them apples?!
  • Rony and I (and Jesse and Umba and Killick and Sam and Jack and Boaz and Toby’s Ghost) moved to Mexico.

Clearly, there’s a lot of catching up to do, but life’s so interesting right now, and I’ve struggled with which backward look to tackle first.

So rather than trying to figure out how to make an elegant re-entry, I’m just diving back in, blogging from our rustic patio in La Misión, Baja California, México. An expat, reprised, learning a new place, new customs, new people. I don’t yet know what direction this blog will take, but come along for the ride and let’s see what happens.

Renew your passport while you’re at it, and come on down–the water’s just fine!