After a frenetic three weeks visiting my family I am again airborne.
There is a harried activity that comes with returning home from an extended period abroad – visiting old haunts and renewing relationships. The joy of touching down is quickly eclipsed by the awful realization that there is not enough time to do all that you wish to do during your sojourn.
After living in four cities in the last decade, I’ve realized that melancholic yearning I feel as I drink in those final glimpses of a city I have called home is not a place I desire but a time in my life..
Technology can lull us all into thinking that distance doesn’t matter. As an international school teacher I drink in Facebook updates and Instagram snaps. Family dinners have given way to FaceTime.
Yet on return I realize I’ve missed so much – births, birthdays and break ups. The spontaneous conversation at dinner parties, bumping into people on the street.
In an era of instantaneous communication even a change in timezones, changes the online world I exist in.
Despite the excitement, opportunities and adventure of my life in Singapore, I appreciate that being there is still everything