* fly away

For many of those of us who grew up flying back and forth overseas (for example MKs as in “Missionary Kids”), one of the magical parts of life was being able to get on a plane on one side of the world and then, after a day or two of up to several flights, being able to get off your final plane to a home on the other side of the world. In my case that was the different worlds of Minneapolis, MN and Fort Dauphin, Madagascar. The latter was a small town of about 50,000 back in those days located on the far southeast coast of the island at the end of either a 3-day drive or somewhere between a 1 and 3 hour plane flight depending on what type of plane you were flying.

One of the really big things about this reality is no matter what you were in the middle of on whichever side of the ocean(s) you were on, it pretty much ended by the time you were on the plane flying out with a new slate of things starting when you got off the plane on the other side. Three times for me this was just being gone for 3 or 4 months from Madagascar at which point you were back there again, so while a break, not a total one, more of some time away in the US. But three times when I did this it was for a year or more. This was much more of a break. Enough for there to be many endings in leaving either end with many beginnings in the new world to follow.

And I do mean “new world.” For though I have flown round trip from the US to Madagascar and back over 10 times in my life, the only way my brain can really understand how this western world is all connected to the African world is that I am flying some form of a “space” shuttle from Europe down to Madagascar and back. People are people. But their worlds? Very hard to believe they’re all part of one given how incredibly different they are.

One of the challenges MKs and some of those like us who’ve done this type of travelling face is a temptation to just pick up and move when things get to be a bit much. Put an end to what isn’t working and start over somewhere new. This generally doesn’t work very well if you’re wondering because there’s so much of one’s past that remains a part of one’s presence, almost like one’s DNA. But the thought is there because in my case I really loved the other side of the world I was blessed to grow up and then later work in. And there were some things in these United States which were quite honestly good to be able to get away from for awhile.

But here in the US is where I now am and over there is but memories and short news articles about various things going on. Along with friends and the beauty of it all, but there is there and that’s where I am not.

But still…