Really enjoyed this! It's interesting that ex-pat typically comes with an assumption of returning to the original patria. I knew many ex-pats in Costa Rica who felt much as you do. There were reasons they left, and going back held no appeal. I've felt something like that in Prague and in Moravia. I could see how someone might move there and never return.
I do think that if someone has a stable community in a place that they also love, then that is a rather special exception to your rule. Otherwise, I agree that a lot of it is about intentionality and leaning into the possibilities wherever we are.
Thanks, Josh! I'm glad you liked it. The Sincere American Writing project on home is also lovely. Thank you for your contribution to that--and your participation in it getting me to read a bunch of those essays.
On ex-pat expectations: There's been a whole conversation going around Substackistan on Americans moving to other countries, of which the essay by Elizabeth.Ink that I cited is a part. In those essays, certainly the assumption is that "ex-pats" are "boomers," bouncing from place to place (if not returning "home"). But also, many "ex-pats" in fact plan to go back to the (for instance) USA in the long run, and typically maintain homes or other properties there.
But not me. The only home I have is the one we bought on Saba, with all the US style responsibilities of home ownership (repainting, replacing light fixtures, etc.) and a bunch of new exciting tropical duties of home ownership (bleaching the ceilings, checking the water level on the cistern, oiling the hurricane shutters). It is much more difficult to either buy or sell a home on Saba than it is in the USA, so having bought a home here you have to be under the assumption that it would take years or decades to sell if you decided to leave.
"Being at home isn’t about choosing the place you love and living there. It’s about choosing to love your place, wherever life has blown you."
Yes, this is so true. I've lived in many different places over the course of my life; ultimately, my home is in God's hands, but until I'm called back there I choose to love whichever place I have been granted, for howsoever long it is mine.
Really enjoyed this! It's interesting that ex-pat typically comes with an assumption of returning to the original patria. I knew many ex-pats in Costa Rica who felt much as you do. There were reasons they left, and going back held no appeal. I've felt something like that in Prague and in Moravia. I could see how someone might move there and never return.
I do think that if someone has a stable community in a place that they also love, then that is a rather special exception to your rule. Otherwise, I agree that a lot of it is about intentionality and leaning into the possibilities wherever we are.
Thanks, Josh! I'm glad you liked it. The Sincere American Writing project on home is also lovely. Thank you for your contribution to that--and your participation in it getting me to read a bunch of those essays.
On ex-pat expectations: There's been a whole conversation going around Substackistan on Americans moving to other countries, of which the essay by Elizabeth.Ink that I cited is a part. In those essays, certainly the assumption is that "ex-pats" are "boomers," bouncing from place to place (if not returning "home"). But also, many "ex-pats" in fact plan to go back to the (for instance) USA in the long run, and typically maintain homes or other properties there.
But not me. The only home I have is the one we bought on Saba, with all the US style responsibilities of home ownership (repainting, replacing light fixtures, etc.) and a bunch of new exciting tropical duties of home ownership (bleaching the ceilings, checking the water level on the cistern, oiling the hurricane shutters). It is much more difficult to either buy or sell a home on Saba than it is in the USA, so having bought a home here you have to be under the assumption that it would take years or decades to sell if you decided to leave.
"Being at home isn’t about choosing the place you love and living there. It’s about choosing to love your place, wherever life has blown you."
Yes, this is so true. I've lived in many different places over the course of my life; ultimately, my home is in God's hands, but until I'm called back there I choose to love whichever place I have been granted, for howsoever long it is mine.
Thank you, Julie! Both for your comment and for your attitude toward home and life.