Home Stretch

From 25 May

Phil 'n Limpy, Good Ol' Friends - Dec 2009

I bid farewell to my housemate/colleague/friend Phil today.

Heading out the door for three days in Penang, followed by three more with Luther House on retreat in Taiping, the first few steps away from the house were heavier than I thought they'd be. This was goodbye. By the the time I get back to the city, he'll be halfway home for three months stateside with his family; come August, when he returns, I'll be en route to Yale by way of Los Angeles and Waukesha.

I'm grateful for the shared meals, the 4pm Carlsbergs on couch and chair, and the swapping of stories, observations, and running commentaries on the day to day experience of being a stranger in a strange land, an American navigating his way through the complexities of life in Southeast Asia.

Even more, this departure served as a reminder and a wake-up call that I am indeed entering the final leg of my year in Malaysia.

While there is undoubtedly much to look forward to here, my thoughts and daydreams increasingly turn to the United States and all that awaits me there: cousins' weddings, attending to significant relationships, research/writing, the call process, finding the right job, and to top it off, my new puppy - Kasper.

While there are more fascinating people to meet all around KL/PJ, I'm increasingly aware that the number of 'Goodbyes' in my immediate future will quickly surpass the number of new 'Hellos'

While I'm settling deeper and deeper into the rhythms of life here, adopting and adapting to the local ways of being, my attention and orientation are subtly shifting back to life in America.

In short, I'm finding myself once again stretched between two (if not more) 'homes.'

Neither good nor bad, I make note of this as a condition that is a reality for those of us who find ourselves living and working in that liminal zone between countries and cultures and multiple communities for which we care deeply.

While, in all honesty, there are parts of me that are looking forward to life back in my homeland, I've still got eleven more weeks in wonderland and life is indubitably grand.