The "Click"

Moving is hard.  I was one of those lucky kids that went to the same schools with the same kids for my entire elementary to high school years, so moving was not something that I was used to or comfortable with.  The farthest I had moved up to the age of eighteen was about 10 miles, from the house that I was born in to the dream house that my parents built when I was about 12 years old.

It's hard to describe, but at a certain point after a move, I can almost feel the "click".  This is the moment when, all of the sudden, for no real apparent reason, the place where you are becomes home.  For me, it always takes about a year.  I remember the first time, in Portland.  I loved that city, and had made some good friends, but there was something holding me back from really "committing" to being there.  I always talked about "home" as Ohio, and thought about when I would be moving "home" again.  To be honest, when I moved to Portland, I didn't really know how to think for myself.  Life had been easy up to that point.  Go to school, do well, graduate.  Check.  Go to college, do well, graduate.  Check.  Get accepted to a finance leadership development program with a Fortune 500 company, move to Portland, start the first of three rotations in three parts of the company, move back to Ohio, start a career and work your way up the corporate ladder... wait.  Move to Portland?  Move to Ohio?  For the first time in my life, I took a step back and asked myself, "What do I want?".  It was so easy going through life up to that point - success and happiness were pretty well-defined.  But, after moving to Portland, I realized for the first time that I get to choose what I want.  I ended up making a tough decision to leave the company that brought be to Portland, because what I really wanted was a little more time in that fantastic city.  I wanted to have some roots.  I wanted to commit to living there.  That was the"click".  I bought a house, invested fully in my friendships, and started truly becoming a part of the community there (hehe - I even sat on the HOA Board of my neighborhood as a 23 year old... that was not so fun, but, a good experience in the end).  I remember clearly the night I returned to Portland from Ohio, lying in bed and realizing that I was choosing not to go back.  There were tears for sure, but a huge sense of relief as well.

My "click" in Hong Kong has finally happened.  I'll be quite honest.  I was not sure about this place for quite some time.  It's a huge city.  There are tons of people.  I like driving a car.  I miss my friends.  I miss being able to call my mom on my way to work.  Everyone told me to give it a year; I was not convinced.  But... they were right.  I think one year is really the time period it takes to wean yourself off of all of the things that you miss.  Being in the US for three weeks this summer made me miss it even more.  When we left, I was so sad, and really having second thoughts about being so far away.  But then, something miraculous happened.  I had told myself during our trip that I needed to stop thinking of Portland as home.  I needed to start thinking of Hong Kong as home, and stop thinking about when I will get to go back.  When we got back, suddenly, figuring out the bus system was a piece of cake.  My commute to work didn't seem so stressful.  Shopping for groceries became a fun challenge, and we discovered some stores that we didn't know about.  We actually CAN find everything we need here, and sometimes things I had never even heard of.  Best of all, the seeds of friendship that we had planted are truly blossoming.  I am so thankful for the people that we have met here.  I wouldn't say that we have a lot of friends, but the friends that we do have are just quality people.  I was lamenting the fact that I missed "my community" in Portland, and running into people that we know.  Well, I'm not sure what happened, but since we got back, we randomly run into people nearly every weekend.  I do finally feel like we are a part of a community.  We are starting to take advantage of all there is to do here, especially the water activities.  Living on an island gives us the opportunity to try windsurfing, go kayaking, and hang out at the beach for the day.  We are truly embracing our life here, and my attitude and mental health are in such a better place than they were even a few months ago.

Finally, I am just so happy for Brian.  He is teaching this year at Hong Kong International School.  This school has got to be one of the best-run schools I have ever encountered, and it sounds like an absolute dream for teachers.  In Portland, we had really struggled.  Jobs for teachers were few and far between.  It sounds like after further budget cuts this year, it is even worse.  Brian of course had a positive attitude... that is just him.  But, I have never seen him so lit up and happy as he is right now, in his element.  He works with a group of true professionals, and the school gives them the time and the tools they need to give these kids an amazing education. 

This move has been such a good move for BOTH of us.  I think maybe we'll just stay here for a while and enjoy it.  :)