I haven't traveled for nine weeks, and it's getting to me!
For most of my life I have been on the move, and I mean that quite literally. I am in my late forties and I am presently dwelling in my twenty-fifth residence. If you take this as an average, every one year and eleven months I pack up and move everything I own to a different place, somewhere unfamiliar, somewhere fresh. A new beginning. This average, by the way is an improvement. In my early years moving was practically an annual event. Pulling up stakes every twenty-three months may seem odd, and I suppose to many it is odd, but to me it is as natural as getting dressed in the morning. It is something I have always done.
My parents set this tone. My father was, and remains an ambitious sort. He was always willing to relocate to find the next opportunity, the next promotion, and in the end this served him well. As a result, I felt like a permanent tourist growing up, always someplace new where the people talked kind of funny, but secure in the knowledge that next year, maybe two at the outside, I would again have a new home, a new school, new friends. A new experience.
While I don't move my belongings as often now, I still feel the need to keep moving and exploring. This explains why I like my present job as much as I do, and why I get so antsy when I sit for too long in one spot. Some get homesick, I suppose I get "roadsick". I want to be out there, anywhere meeting new people, trying different foods, soaking it all in. Life is short and there is much to see. An uncle of mine once said of me that "...he doesn't want to leave one square yard of soil that he hasn't stepped on", and I guess to some degree he was right.
I am fortunate to have a family that, even if they don't like this tendency in me, at least they begrudgingly accept it without too much outward complaint. I nonetheless know this wears on them sometimes.
Anyhow, I leave in 2 days for Asia. Three weeks in China and Japan. If this trip goes as most do, I have a few days of nasty jet lag to look forward to, followed by one to two cases of food-borne illness, a baiju-induced hangover or two, and days of sinus headaches brought on by the ever-present air pollution - and I can't wait!
For most of my life I have been on the move, and I mean that quite literally. I am in my late forties and I am presently dwelling in my twenty-fifth residence. If you take this as an average, every one year and eleven months I pack up and move everything I own to a different place, somewhere unfamiliar, somewhere fresh. A new beginning. This average, by the way is an improvement. In my early years moving was practically an annual event. Pulling up stakes every twenty-three months may seem odd, and I suppose to many it is odd, but to me it is as natural as getting dressed in the morning. It is something I have always done.
My parents set this tone. My father was, and remains an ambitious sort. He was always willing to relocate to find the next opportunity, the next promotion, and in the end this served him well. As a result, I felt like a permanent tourist growing up, always someplace new where the people talked kind of funny, but secure in the knowledge that next year, maybe two at the outside, I would again have a new home, a new school, new friends. A new experience.
While I don't move my belongings as often now, I still feel the need to keep moving and exploring. This explains why I like my present job as much as I do, and why I get so antsy when I sit for too long in one spot. Some get homesick, I suppose I get "roadsick". I want to be out there, anywhere meeting new people, trying different foods, soaking it all in. Life is short and there is much to see. An uncle of mine once said of me that "...he doesn't want to leave one square yard of soil that he hasn't stepped on", and I guess to some degree he was right.
I am fortunate to have a family that, even if they don't like this tendency in me, at least they begrudgingly accept it without too much outward complaint. I nonetheless know this wears on them sometimes.
Anyhow, I leave in 2 days for Asia. Three weeks in China and Japan. If this trip goes as most do, I have a few days of nasty jet lag to look forward to, followed by one to two cases of food-borne illness, a baiju-induced hangover or two, and days of sinus headaches brought on by the ever-present air pollution - and I can't wait!
Do not fear me gypsy. All I want are your tears.
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