When our people back in New Jersey ask us about moving abroad they use lots of words: brave, exciting, complicated, scary, adventure, different, very different. But they never use this word: simple. Sure there could be complicated things about living overseas as a whole: navigating a foreign country, learning new customs, trying to get out of a ticket in a different language and such, but daily life is pretty simple, dare I say, way more simple than the life we left in the States.
We don’t have a ton of stuff or responsibilities besides to one another which significantly whittles down our “Must Do To Do List.” Our list turns from what we have to do to what we want to do and the “chores” that remain on our list become as cheerful as Snow White sweeping up with little farmland creatures. Ok, maybe not that cheerful but you understand. Try it. Try saying these opposing questions out loud:
“Honey, what do we want to do today?” (Insert cheering and leaping for joy.)
VERSUS
“Honey, what do we have to do today?” (Insert groaning and feet dragging.)
See the giganto difference in that one word change-up?
During the week we still have office hours to tend to and kids to bathe and toys to put away but I look forward to my simple day. I look forward to waking up, getting dressed, and getting to work. I look forward to the end of my work day when we walk outside to our kids swinging at the playground where we hang with friends and kids’ friends. I look forward to getting home when bath time and bedtime are within grasp, when I take 20 minutes to slip away to my room and sanctuary and lay on my bed and stare at the ceiling. I look forward to the simple pleasure of curling up on one bed to read a book next to our little dumplings who smell clean and tired and then walking out of their room with Husband knowing we have arrived at the quietest part of our day, the time for us when we eat dinner and talk or watch “The Americans” or just be still. And then I look forward to living that day again, the next day.
Nothing about that day sounds particularly adventurous as you would expect when you hear the words living abroad. It just sounds simple. It is simple. It’s everyday I get to do the things that I love with people I love and nothing else-simple.