I’m Going to See Her Face – an Expat Dilemma

On days like today I really hope that my husband isn’t reading my blog! The house is a DISASTER, I have to finish packing…no wait, I have to START packing. The kitchen needs to be cleaned, I have to iron, prepare the travel sized versions of everything in the washroom, print maps, itineraries, walking tours, download, convert and upload to my iphone new episodes of my son’s favorite shows, find my camera, charge it…ahhhh the LIST GOES ON.

And I only have one kid! What would I do with two? What would I do if I was working full-time out of the house? How do other moms do everything?

Here I am blogging, so shhhh don’t tell my man.

Tomorrow I see her face.

Her sweet, beautiful, familiar and yet unknown face. The face of my new baby niece. The niece that was born a few months ago that everyone else in my family knows, and has held and has smelled and knows how to make giggle – in Canada.

I know I chose to live overseas. I’m the one who decided to go away, who got involved with an Italian, who decided to “abandon” my old life, my family my country, my city, my everything in search of something that was missing.

My husband reminds me (often) that I CHOSE to come to Italy every time I want some sympathy for every birthday, Christmas, Easter, Picnic or family day at an amusement park that I miss. How can I complain if this is what I chose??

But life isn’t that simple. I’ve learned to not complain to him, but I still get sad every now and then. I just let the feelings of sadness wash over me and then I replace them with feelings of joy for what I have, for what MY LIFE has become because I put the wheels in motion to change it.

I wasn’t happy there so I left and now I’m happy (almost 90% of the time at least!). When my son was born I stopped having any feelings of missing “home”, my home is wherever he is, and he is here.

But still, I am so over flowing with joy because I’m going to Lisbon in Portugal and there will be my sister, her husband, my nephew and my new baby niece that I have never met.

I will hold her sweet baby body.

I’m so grateful to my sister for vacationing in Europe which is way more affordable for us (500 euro for the 3 of us to fly to Lisbon and 250 euro for an apartment for 5 days as opposed to Canada which is at least 600 euro each just for the flight!!!) so that we can have this time together. The last time I saw my sister was just over a year ago along with my other sister, brother, their families, my parents and all of my cousins….needless to say I am ready for a mini family reunion!

We’ll be there for 5 days, if you’ve been to Lisbon I would LOVE to hear your feedback. ESPECIALLY if you know of any places that have Gluten Free options since now the three of us are following a Gluten Free diet (read about why here).

Ok my 10 minutes are up, time to go PACK, because this is one flight that I cannot miss!