Transitions

We've been back in the US for over three months now, and back at work for about 6 weeks. We've adjusted to some things quite well, like stores that stay open in the evening and on Sundays, although I do find myself wondering occasionally if a particular store - like David's barber, for instance - will be open on Monday. We love having reliable electrical service in our home, but, again, sometimes when we drive up to the house and haven't quite hit the garage door opener squarely and the door doesn't open, we both suck in our breath while thinking, "Oh crap, the power's out again" until we realize that that was a Belgian phenomenon. Still, we don't realize how much of life in Belgium we had internalized as normal until we are startled by the realization that normal is different here.

One transition that has been harder has been going back to work. Not just the getting up, getting dressed, and slogging through traffic part, but adjusting to a different job. It's not a new job, since it's one I did before going to Belgium, but I find that my experiences at SHAPE and working with the military have changed me in ways I'm not even really conscious of. Maybe I just like working with guys in uniform. Whatever...Without going into any detail, I'll just say that I'm still looking for what excited me about this job in the past.

On the home front, we had another light-bulb moment this weekend. Sarah was off having a girls' weekend with friends so we found ourselves home alone in our house for the first time since coming back. Between the gorgeous fall weather - temperatures which resemble those of summer in Belgium - and the knowledge that it was just the two of us (oh boy, we can eat in front of the TV!), we realized that maybe some (or a lot) of what we liked so much about our life in Hautrage was not so much being in Belgium but just being empty-nesters. After all, we'd had little empty nest time between Sarah's departure for college in fall 2006 and our departure for Belgium in February 2007 - and in those few months we'd had kitchen/bath remodelers crawling all over the house. So while we're happy to have our little girl here until she can get her own apartment, we are definitely looking forward to the peace and quiet and uncluttered living that comes with having raised your kids and seen them go out on their own.