Thursday, July 24, 2008

Multiple Loyalties

Today the kids and I went to visit dear friends in Medina, where we lived several moves ago. As we drove through the town, past several old haunts, we all felt nostalgic for our old hometown. Cries of "Oh, I remember this!", and "I loved that place!", punctuated our drive through the familiar streets. The conversation progressed to the kids discussing how they love all the green in America, how lush it seems everywhere, compared to the "concrete jungle" we live in in China, to use Caleb's words. They talked about wanting to live in the US again. Then Caleb wisely said, "But once we're back in China, with our friends, then we're going to be glad we're there."

As I've written in several previous posts, this month I too have reveled in the green, the blue, the familiar. It's great to be here. But I know my little part of China well enough now to have elements of it that I know I will long for, once we leave there for good someday.

I told the kids this afternoon that I think it's good to love more than one place.

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