Home Leave...

So, home leave started, and I thought I'd have all this time to write blog posts and relax, and it hasn't quite worked out like that yet. We were in Maryland for the first three weeks, and we spent most of the time seeing the doctor, dentist, orthodontist, and various eye doctors (for LASIK follow-up). Because we were commuting back and forth from VA to let the kids finish school, we sometimes didn't come home during the day. I tried to find the time to study a bit of Chinese but it hasn't been easy so far. Lesson 1: if you are going to see doctors during HL, schedule them all on a few days, rather over weeks. It's no fun to have that be your entire home leave!

Lesson 2: I don't feel like I'm on vacation until I'm at a vacation spot of some sort. We made the decision to let the kids finish school, and I'm glad we did, but I'll keep this in mind for next time.

But it was great to spend three weeks living with my mom and pop. And we tried to take advantage of some great weather! For Father's Day, we went to Baltimore's Fort McHenry. What a great day trip! Although you can drive there directly, we chose to take the boat that goes from the Inner Harbor to Fell's Point, where we had lunch, and then to the Fort.

The kids had a bit of a hard time during our last few weeks on the East Coast. They needed a lot of extra hugs (which we were happy to provide), and we tried to help them verbalize their feelings about leaving. I find it fascinating that my son (typical male!) has trouble talking about his emotions, while my daughter loves to do so. My parents are psychologists and my brother and aunt are social workers, so in my family, we talk about our feelings. I am just going to have to work a little harder with this one. Here, he shared that he was feeling down about leaving his best friend. When I told him that he had his own email address and could write his friend, he was over the moon.

It's really hard to watch my kids hurting like this. We adults believe that the benefits of this lifestyle outweigh the costs (mostly the cost of uprooting yourself every few years and leaving people and places you have grown to love), but the kids aren't mature enough to understand, nor do they get a choice right now. So far, I find them to be pretty resilient and adaptive, but it's still hard to watch. 

Anyway. Interestingly, they seem to be doing better now that we are moving on. We are in Sunriver, Oregon right now, a place we come every year for a reunion with D's family. I love this place. It has miles of bike paths, hundreds of houses to rent in any size, an amazing aquatic center, and good old-fashioned family fun. It is so peaceful and beautiful. I am dreaming of buying a house here or at least spending a larger chunk of our home leave here next time.

This year, in addition to family time, I'm enjoying hour long bike rides and just trying to appreciate the clean air, greenery, and peacefulness. It's not hard. :)





Below left: outside of Bend, Oregon- the 3 Sisters of the Cascade Range.
Below right: Lava Lands/ Newberry National Volcanic Monument (about 15 min away from Sunriver)

We walked on lava!

Tomorrow our Sunriver vacation comes to an end, and I leave for China pretty soon. It's all getting real around here!

My writing process

A few weeks ago, Theresa from Subjectverbobject invited me to participate in a "Writing Process Blog Hop." I've been a bit out of the blogging loop, so I don't know much about how this blog hop thing works, but I really value being a part of the FS blogging community, so I said yes. And now, if you care, you can read my responses to the questions I was posed.

What am I working on? 

It all depends on how you interpret this question, but I chose to look at it generally. Here are the things I'm working on:

- moving to China, mentally and physically 

- learning Chinese. No easy feat.

- incorporating healthy eating and exercise into my daily life
- learning photography
- helping my kids learn to navigate the world and especially the life we've chosen
- my latest photo book (trying a new photo book company, Blurb)
- I think that's enough, don't you?

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

Perhaps calling my blog "my work" is a little far-reaching, but ok. I think of myself as belonging to the "FSO mom" genre, and there aren't really that many of us. However, because it's hard to blog too much about work itself, I often end up blogging about things that are of interest to people in general and parents/moms in particular- the effect this lifestyle has on the kids, family trips, entertaining, work-life balance. I really love helping others who are considering this lifestyle or just starting out, so maybe that's my niche. 

Why do I write what I do?

I started to blog in 2010 for two reasons: 1) I needed an outlet for the intense feelings I was having about possibly joining, and 2) I wanted to be part of what looked like a beautiful community (and it is!). 

But after I joined, I could no longer share some of my thoughts about being with State or living abroad as a diplomat. Now, when I write, there are other reasons: 1) to share our life with family and friends (they don't comment much, but I love to hear that my family and friends are reading- it means a lot!), 2) to help other families considering this lifestyle or just starting out (during the year when I applied to the FS, I devoured FS blogs and I know that without them, I would never be here. They helped me get a glimpse of what this life could be like, which was invaluable), 3) for memory's sake, and 4) because I'm excited about something, like new plates. 

I don't write because I aspire to be a writer. When something sad happens in the world, I admire those who can write eloquently about it, but I don't feel the need. 

How does my writing process work?

This is where it's obvious I'm not a writer or serious blogger. I write when the mood strikes me. I try to write with some regularity, but months or weeks have gone by. I get inspired to blog about packout and organizing, for some reason, but other inspiration comes and goes. I rarely write posts in advance and wait to post them. I have a feeling that blogging in China will be even more challenging, but I hope to keep it up. 

So here's the part where I'm supposed to tag the next participant in this activity. Jen from The Dinoia Family is going to write next!