🙃 The sheer incuriosity of family about where I live. To them, even after all this time, there's the West and then there's... everything else.
@MLClark Have you read Bel Canto?
Classic Patchett. What brings it to mind for you here?
@MLClark Colombia, cartels, childlessness...
The setting's a bit vaguer than that, but I remember Bel Canto far more for its descriptions of music - probably one of the best books at putting the feeling and passion of the art into words.
@MLClark My family and friends in 2009:
Me: "I'm moving from California to Florida."
Them: "What about the hurricanes?"
Me: "What about the earthquakes?"
<crickets chirp>
Get used to that: I lived in Switzerland for 12 years (ending in 2010). In the 14 years since returning, now one friend or family has ever said:
"I really want to hear about your life overseas...?"
It's funny; I often dread ever having to go back to Canada, in part because I don't want to talk about my life here as entertainment for others, to satisfy a fleeting interest, or to defend against tedious preconceptions. If I ever had to go back I'd lean hard into Latin American immigrant communities there instead. Less need to defend oneself.
I'm so sorry for the incuriosity you've experienced. *I* would like to hear about it! What do you miss most? What do you *not* miss?
Hard to describe real freedom:
Didn't lock my door for 12 years (unless traveling overnight);
Sunsets;
Neighbors impromptu lake-wall BBQs 3x weekly (BYO);
EasyJet to Amsterdam for $120;
Cycling to Tour de France stages 3 hours from home;
Drafting a Treaty ❤️🇨🇭
Or Food Purity Laws?
Friends from all countries...
200 meters from France 🇫🇷
And the woman who got away... (big sad)
❤️❤️🇨🇭❤️❤️
The exhilaration of living another way and then having to go back is tough enough. Even tougher, when surrounded by people who think that, as rough as it is in X space, surely it can't *really* be much better elsewhere, no?
Oh, but it can be. What a shame that you can't share so many rich anecdotes with loved ones around you now.
It's their loss, but it means you have fewer places to put the joy, too.
❤️ Thank you for sharing these joys with me. I *will* ask again down the line.
Amusingly:
My father's first thought, when I told him I was going to move: "Don't join a cartel!" Dead serious. Was afraid I'd been recruited. 😅
Second thought: "How are you going to raise 3 kids in Colombia?" Also serious, because even though I've been clear about no kids since 17, he'd been harbouring the idea that I'd eventually come around and give 3 of my nephews 3 cousins. 🙄
But hey! Still not in a cartel, & I haven't brought children into my struggling life for "balance". #SmallWins 🥳