🙃 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.
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 🥳
@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.