You must really be glad...

to be back in Roanoke...we keep hearing! Our family moved to Dubai over a year ago now and when you live in a place that long...that new place becomes a home to you. We are now an expatriate family...a family that is "from" one place but now has a new home, well, as least temporarily (?). It presents quite an emotional quandry at times...where is "home?" The old saying goes that "Home is where you hang your hat."

Now that we (Lisa, Kaleigh and Ashlyn) are "home" for the summer...home means Roanoke, VA. We are obviously happy to be "back" around our family and friends, since we love them very much. We are able to spend a lot of quality face-time with those who want to spend time with us...and that means so much. It's very easy to immerse yourself in the familiar surroundings of where you grew up and sink back into a familiar flow. It's fantastic to feast our eyes on the beauty of the Blue Ridge mountains by glancing out the window or by taking a leisurely drive along the Blue Ridge parkway. Driving in Roanoke is a delight compared to Dubai's hectic-schmectic construction-crazy 12-14 lane highways. No one is trying to cut us off in traffic.

Today, our 4-year old (Ashlyn) said she wanted to go home. To her, home is Dubai. That is the place most active in her memory...the place she knows best. It is where her friends are (well, other than Sam) and it's really all she remembers. Roanoke feels less like home now than it did 14 months ago and it's a perplexing emotion to consider. It is becoming a place to visit...a place in which we no longer live but still have many connections. It's where we are "from," but not where we currently "belong."