A Short Letter Home

Homeless, homeless are we

This past election got me to thinking about our home. Now, I know that one of our guidelines for internet use is to avoid controversial topics like politics, but since this is about not voting, I think I'm okay. You see, despite many years of being a faithful voter, I decided that my participation in the electoral process was something that I was going to leave back in the States. I know that I can cast my vote via absentee ballot, but I didn't know how well I could stay informed on the candidates and issues here in China. An even bigger reason is that it would mean cutting another tie with our home.

We're in an odd situation, living here in China. From the beginning we decided that our time here was going to be limited to two years. We wanted the experience, but we didn't feel a calling to spend a bigger chunk of our lives here. The problem is, one just can't put one's life on pause and slip out to live a different one. I suppose we could have let our house sit furnished and vacant, and continued to pay for things that we weren't using, like utilities and auto insurance. But we didn't have the kind of money to do that. So we ended up vacating our house and renting it out. Of course, given our desire to return to our old way of life in two years, we ended up moving in body, but not in spirit. Our mail was now going to my sister-in-law's place in Renton, but we still thought of ourselves as residents of Seattle. Soon after moving out, we settled down in our apartment here in China. Now we had three homes: the place we were actually staying, the place our mail was going to, and the blue house in Seattle. At times it was a bit confusing. (And then, of course, there was this summer that we spent in Tacoma. When asked where we were from, we didn't know if we should answer Seattle, Renton, China or Tacoma.)

The question is, does having three homes make us very rooted, or do they all cancel each other out and make us homeless? I mean, I take less interest in our Seattle neighborhood (and local politics) since I'm not there to deal with them. I also have a more detached attitude here in China, because I'm just a guest. When the bill comes due for the new stadium in town, I'll be back in the States. There are times when the concerns of one place or another tug at me--it's human nature to want to settle down, after all--but I can't really get caught up in it. I suppose the answer will come at the end of next summer when we return to the blue house. Will we feel that we've truly come home? Or will we find that we've left a part of ourselves back here and that are transplanted roots can't quite sink down to the depth they had before we left? I'm in no hurry to find out, but sometimes I wonder.

posted by John @ 2:45 AM