Why go?

Hello, My name is Becky and I'm an American living in Bahrain.


 “Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” ― Terry Pratchett


Today's expat blog challenge is to respond to this quote. I really like it because it rings really true. When I was in my 20s I had a chance to go back to Menlo Park, the elementary school I'd attended from K-6th grade. This building had been so big in my memories. There were three separate wings that stretched forever, a endless breezeway, a huge playground with tall, sloping hills on either side of the grass fields and a steep cement slope down to the parking lot. I remember chipping at that cement in first grade playing paleontologist with friends when the annual asphalt overlay job was sloppily done. I remember how huge and scary the gym seemed- mostly because I was horrible at PE. Especially climbing the rope- which seemed to stretch a mile in the sky. I was sure I would fall and die if I ever managed to get to the top, but never had the upper body strength or coordination to get more than two and a half feet off the ground. When I went back, I felt like Gulliver in Lilliput. Those slopes were barely inclines. The playground was small supermarket parking-lot sized. The hallways were quickly traversed. The gym ceiling wasn't that high. It was eerily the same and completely new.


I think we have to go away to appreciate home. I have really appreciated more about my past experiences for having left them behind. I've become more grateful for what I had, when it seemed so everyday life before. Like being able to easily visit family for the holidays or having a constant supply of Goldfish! And don't even get me started about how gorgeous a summer in the Pacific Northwest is compared to dusty dullness of the Middle East in summer. Even the air tastes green and alive.


The part about people seeing you differently rings true too. We were an All-American Family with our two kids, our mortgage, our middle class professions and our mid-sized auto. Going overseas instantly gives you a new "I'm adventurous and cosmopolitan" vibe. It made us more unpredictable. I think it helped our families think of us as more grown-up, even though it had been over a decade of marriage and career by that point.


I think if we would have stayed, I would have always wondered. Now I know. I know and when I do go home, it will be both with new appreciation and eyes wide open. I think I will see opportunities and possibilities I wouldn't have before.


If advising others considering going overseas, I would almost always advise for going. It is such a maturing, broadening thing. It could be the adventure of a lifetime that could last a lifetime or be a quick experiment that makes them appreciate how good things are at home. No wondering about a chance you didn't take. A win no matter what.