Back “Home”…

We are back home in Florida and it feels, well, weird actually! I’ve just spent the last 10 months in an apartment on the 18th floor and now we are spread out in this beautiful home. But there is so much to take care of! The internet of course is the first item on the list! Then the pool, the landscaping, the garage doors need replacing, the car needs a check up, and I think we have squirrels in the attic! Welcome Home!!

Our caretaker did a fabulous job of preparing the house for our return. But there is this feeling that time just stood still and everything was just as we left it! A few piles of paper, half used bottles of shampoo in the shower, odd items left on the counter as we were running out the door last August I suppose! It is strange! Of course things did stand still as far as the house is concerned – not sure why I should think things would have changed!

It will take a while to get used to being back “home”. We were starting to feel like Abu Dhabi was home. Where is “home”? What do you answer when people ask you where you are from? That became a hard question to answer in Abu Dhabi and it is asked quite often as nearly everyone you meet is from somewhere else! But are we from Florida or NY? The girls feel like they’re from Florida where I needed to clarify that I was from NY but that we had moved to Abu Dhabi from Florida! But is “home” wherever you are at the time? Is it where your family is at the moment? Or is it where you have lived the longest? All of a sudden I’m realizing that one’s house is just that – a house. And that wherever you are as a family is your home.

I also realized that I have too much “stuff”!! In Abu Dhabi we bought whatever it was that we needed – and nothing more! Now while I admit that I did miss my Pampered Chef platters and other hostess items, I didn’t seem to miss the 20+ mugs of all different shapes & colors, or the cabinet full of toiletry samples, or the “I may need this someday” stuff in my desk! I guess I could live without these things! Abu Dhabi life has taught me that I can live minimally! I guess other things became important to me!

So while our life in Abu Dhabi opened our eyes to a part of the world we knew very little about, it also taught me to appreciate what is really important: our family, our health, and our friends.