The Countdown

It's official. I'll be living in the US on May 1st, 2011. I haven't purchased my tickets home or anything yet. But, we've announced my return date to my team and peers at work, so my departure is as official as official gets.

Frankly, I'm a little conflicted about it all...

One one hand I'm excited about returning home. I miss my friends, my family. All things considered, MSP is a pretty good town, with art and culture and restaurants that I like. I'm looking forward to having seasons again; as much as it gets dreary sometimes I honestly enjoy the brisk of fall that turns into the cold of winter. There is a good job lined up for me, that has the potential to keep me entertained (for a while at least). And I'm counting the days until I live in a place again that's suitable for a dog.

On the other hand, I've really enjoyed living outside of the U.S. of A. Not just the travel, mind you (which has been pretty awesome). But also the constant stream of adventures, both big and small. Sure it will be nice to have working electricity and drinkable water. But to have everything work all the time, in a reliable and predictable way; to not have the daily challenge of learning something new, different, foreign. I'm going to miss that. A lot.

And, I'm worried that I might miss it so much that it will ruin the good of everything else.

I've looked into a couple of options at work that would turn my current international assignment into another one, someplace else in the big wide world. But each path I've explored has ended with a "possible option, maybe" at "some point in the future." In other words, don't call us, we'll call you.

So, I'm beginning to make concrete plans for my repatriation home. I'm looking at apartments and considering different neighborhoods. I'm researching cars, and even debating the possibility of going sans vehicle for a while. I'm making travel plans that have MSP as a starting point instead of BLR. I'm a planner at heart, and I think doing this will give me comfort. I'm hoping if I work hard enough, I'll be able to plan myself into a new adventure even as my current adventure ends.