America The Beautiful.

My path to becoming an American was not an easy one. Oh, the angst of standing for hours outside the immigration offices in the dead of winter in Detroit, Michigan! So many trips. So many appointments. So many of them in winter with my Guy and baby in tow! And so much money! Being unable to work or leave the country legally without special permission was challenging. I think for the first time in my life, I felt the weight of missing family, celebrating milestones away from home, and not being able to contribute to our income.

8 ½ years and three kiddos later, I was finally naturalized!

I miss America. It was there my passion for seasons grew. In Michigan, each season is so beautiful and distinct. But Fall was the best of all! I had never been to a pumpkin patch or tasted hot apple cider or even experienced a corn maze! Americans have such a great way of celebrating and decorating for every season, and I love it! Even now, in the rainy and hot season in East Africa, my whole house is full of Fall decor, and we eat soup for dinner even if it’s 80 degrees outside!

I think that is one of the beauties of this cross-cultural life. A little is taken from each of the cultures and places I’ve lived, and it’s been blended into this beautiful nomadic life. It’s from that perspective that my parents would celebrate the 4th of July with our kiddos despite them being entirely British! It’s in the drinking of British-style tea together with my American guy. It’s in the memories of celebrating Thanksgiving in Arabia with Indians, Sri Lankans, Pakistanis, South Africans, the English, and Americans. It’s proudly supporting an English football team while being fiercely Scottish because our Aussie friend introduced Liverpool to us when we lived in Kuwait! It’s why I miss authentic shawarma and have learned to make masala tea. All of it is an ode to the people, places, and cultures that will forever be part of me.

I treasure this nomadic life. When I left my family and country for the sake of a cross-cultural life, the richness was not defined by money. The true wealth came from living out a life of purpose while adapting, adopting, and assimilating the traditions and beauty of many cultures into the one that I now live out in this quiet nest season in this little corner of East Africa.

But America. I still miss you!