Susan LaffertyLife plans don’t always take shape and move in directions we imagined.
So many things upend our neatly-laid strategies and schedules.
Visa delay or rejection. Medical emergencies. Evacuations and political uncertainties.
Children struggling in new cultures and places. Needing extra help with education.
Sudden changes of co-workers, coming and going.
It feels like setback. Unwanted adjustments.
Tired. In the face of closed doors and shuttered hearts.
Discouraged by disinterest. Low-grade resistance.
Some could care less about eternal realities.
It’s easy to feel like giving up.
Fitting in when you enter a new culture can be a challenge.
My parents grew up in America and moved to Asia. Learned language and culture to fit in.
I grew up in Indonesia and loved the place of my childhood and teenage years. I spoke the language, played their games, knew how to bargain with the best. Had dear Indonesian friends.
But I wasn’t Indonesian.
Every four years we came and spent a year in the country of my passport. America.
I wasn’t sure I was American either.
