So in typical "me" fashion, I let a pretty important date just go by with very little acknowledgement. February 1st marked our 1-year anniversary of our move to China. To be honest, I only remembered because someone new I had met that morning asked me how long I had lived here. Doing the math in my head, I realized it was no longer almost a year. We had indeed hit that milestone. But that was it, the day came and went just like any other day.
However, last week, Eric brought this home from school. Yep, you guessed it, they are Chinese characters, properly written Chinese characters. And there are pages upon pages more that our prolific little writer keeps producing. It was only after I stood at the kitchen table, beaming with pride watching Eric write these mini pieces of art with such determination and skill, that I realized how important our 1-year milestone was to acknowledge.
Standing there, all I kept thinking of was "wow, look how far we have come!" We tackled this adventure from the start as a family, a team. And while we have had our challenges and worked our butts off, we, our little family, has truly thrived in the past year together. Each of us in our own ways.
We live, I mean really live in China!!! Yes, it's Shanghai, arguably one of the easiest cities in China for a foreigner to live, but it's still China. We speak enough of the language to go a whole day out and about without relying on English (though it may not be pretty!) Our kids are happy, really happy, love their school, and beg everyday to play with their international community of friends. Doug's job is going really well, although it continues to be challenging and stressful.
What I realized is that in the last year, our family has established a home in a country so foreign that sometimes it feels like we are on another planet. But we did it, together. And that deserves to be acknowleged.
