Just over a year ago – and I remember it very well – I was living in Mumbai. I remember writing about my umpteenth (three decades plus, if you must know) anniversary of first entering the US of A.  I also began wondering whether I would spend the next few years continuing to live in India or whether I would get the opportunity to return home to the US anytime soon.

I had reached the point where I yearned to return, not because I didn’t like it there so much as just that certain yearning that one gets for home. You know the one?  And while I yearned, at that time and place, it wasn’t that obvious when I would head back.

That unexpected, eye-opening experience, no immersion, of living in India is something I will always cherish. Even now, I can’t seem to be able to let go! I keep up (am addicted you could say) with what is happening in that country, alternatively feeling hope and despair as I watch events from afar.

But at that time, that yearning for my home in the US was not going anywhere fast.

And then just like that, quite out of the blue, a tremendous opportunity to return fell into my lap. I grabbed it. I’m not stupid. 😉

I just celebrated my first anniversary at home and was reflecting on how I really feel to be back.

It’s that location thing again – instead of just one home, I’ve been forced to have two. I know some people look at my going back and forth between the two  and wonder how or why I do it. If I dwell too much on only that back and forth motion, I can easily begin to wonder myself.  So, I look for everything that is going right for me and count myself lucky. And lo and behold, I find myself embracing my (crazy!) lifestyle instead.

It’s that yin and yang thing again – I have the hustle and bustle of a big city during the week and the quiet, calm and friends of my small town home during the weekends. I couldn’t ask for more. Plus, I still have my connections to India, stronger now than ever because of my stint there. Back there for work a few times each year gives me just enough time for great visits with family and friends too.

So on reflecting now, it begs the question, how could I be this lucky??  🙂

:

“The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned”.

— Maya Angelou