Different

I guess I knew this day would come.

This past week I did some Spring cleaning (mostly cleaning out) despite it being only January. You may ask how I could possibly have anything to throw out in only a year and a half, but somehow it just accumulates. Like, for example, I had every instruction sheet from all our Ikea purchases. Yeah, those are gone now.

I am anything but a pack rat. I'm known for throwing things away. Even to the point when something is missing because someone else lost it, I receive all the credit for throwing it out. I understand that logic.

I figure Spring cleaning (albeit in January) is for when you've been some place long enough to have accumulated too much stuff. It also means you've been somewhere long enough that when you are away and you come back, you say you are "home".

That's where we are now. The new has worn off. By that I mean, we've pretty much figured this place out.

Belgium, that is.

And now we're different.

Not better or worse . . . just different.

Okay, just by living in a different country doesn't make me special or worldly. I certainly haven't survived a war or even prejudice, but let me just say that . . . I'm different.

We've talked about the time when we're back in the States - back to our old lifestyle; back to our old way of thinking.

No one really wants to hear about what life is like somewhere else. It may seem like they do, but they don't.

I get it.

I wonder if I will be able to go back to my old lifestyle; my old way of thinking. Will I see things from a different perspective that doesn't work any more?

Life here isn't quite the challenge it once was. Not complaining, for the record.

Of course this is still an adventure, but we live here. It's not a vacation. We live here.

I walk to the market, tote my groceries home in a fabric bag, ride my bike to town, park it in the foyer, pack my umbrella, take Winslow everywhere, and wear my warmups only at home :)

We have a doctor, a dentist, a salon, a veterinarian, friends. A routine.

We don't need our GPS anymore to run to Brussels or Cologne or Maastricht for the day.

Life in the States still seems so easy. Being able to read every sign at the DMV. Even that won't be a challenge.

I suppose I once feared maybe we'd be here too long and now perhaps I fear maybe we won't?