Listening to: Cartoons - not even good ones. Ugh.
Mood: Meh.
The other day, my elder daughter told me she was missing “home”
and that she really wanted to go back to New York. We had a little chat about
how we would definitely try to go and visit sometime, but Bangalore was our
home now. We talked about the things she misses and more importantly, what she
finds awesome about India.
It was a little unexpected for me, because both of my girls
have pretty much adjusted like champs, not a peep to be heard. I honestly
expected much more backlash because one of my nieces cried every day for 3
months after they moved here. While I’m glad they have been so adjusting and
have had a great attitude, I’m glad some of this came out.
My family moved a lot when I was little. My dad has a perennially
restless soul and never stayed one place for too long. This has pretty much
been genetically passed along to me too. I married someone of the same nature. We've lived a rather nomadic life ourselves.
I felt really bad for her, because I remember all too well
how difficult it was for me when my family moved. Fortunately, she’s much more
outgoing and makes friends much easier than I did at her age. I was painfully shy. My eldest is a sensitive
soul and doesn’t do well with meanness/sarcasm. Unfortunately, that’s something
that she’s had to deal with a lot more now that we’ve moved. She misses the
independence of getting in the car and going different places. As of right now,
we don’t have a car. She misses things
being easy. She misses things being clean. I felt bad for her, because I have
my own times when I miss living in the US. I LOVE living in India, but there
are definitely some things from the US that I miss.
I talked to her about what helped me when I was younger, and
we thought about some things she could try to help her think happy thoughts
about the US but not miss it too much. After all, the plan is to visit
eventually and we most likely will go back and live there after a while.
I’m hoping that when she gets a bit older, she’ll look back
on this time and think of the good things she enjoyed, even if she does
remember the harder parts. That’s what happened with me.
Becky
2 comments:
Poor thing, I can sympathise with her. I remember when my parents moved us interstate when I was twelve. I spent six months absolutely miserable, almost to the point where I think they seriously considered going back. But eventually I adjusted and now I'm SO glad they moved us here. I guess everyone adjusts in their own time.
The hardest move for me happened when I was 13 - we moved to Key West. It was brutal making new friends when I was so shy anyhow. We ended up moving back to IL one year later because of my parent's divorce, but that one year was hard. Looking back, it was an amazing experience and I definitely enjoyed a lot of things about living in Key West.
That's what I'm hoping my daughters discover later on about their time here. I'm pretty sure they won't get it now, which is fine, but hopefully they will make some awesome memories. What I'm glad about is that my daughter told me about it. She plays her cards pretty close to her chest, so it's good it got out there in the open.
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