The Return Home

WOW! What a reunion it was! It was the BEST long weekend I've had in quite a few years. and all my worries were for naught.

What made it soo good you might ask?

It was like being with a closely knit extra large family ( albeit one that is stretched to the four winds and back again.) I was struck by the the ease with which everyone settled in with each other, whether we were seeing old friends or meeting new ones for the first time; there was a sense of comfort and familiarity from the oldies down to the babies!

Having been on the planning committee we knew that people would want to spend as much time as possible chatting and catching up or getting acquainted with each other so only a few actual events/activities were planned. (In hindsight we might have extended the reunion a few more days! just a note for those planning the next one in Australia)

The best thing for me was being able to share the memories and bonds that drew us all together in the first place. And then link them to the present. As MK's and TCKs our lives are often dualized (or cut into more pieces). We have these pocket of time and experiences scattered by geography that we often compartmentalize as a transition mechanism for when we move into a new cultural or geographic region. It is a way to "fit in" or be seen as "normal". What a joy it was to be in a group of people where those walls/divisions were not up. We could be unguarded with our hearts and know that we really were being understood and known. The reunion really was a return trip "home". As TCK's we know that "home" is when we are with each other.

Whether you reading this and were there at the reunion or are one of the ones we missed being together with (this time). You know there is nothing that made us more like family than living for years in a country not completely our own and in tight quarters during some of the most formative stages of life.

As I reflect over the cultural diversity and countries/areas represented in our group. England, Holland, Norway, Northern Ireland, Switzerland, countries in Africa, Christmas Island, Canada, Australia, S. Korea, USA, (please for give me if I neglected to mention your country) I see that no mater where we went to after VIS, we all adapted and yet the significance of our boarding school years has remained very much alive in us.

I am so glad that the reunion was a place where we didn't put our school on a pedestal and just shared the good/happy memories. There were some crappy/horrible experiences that sprang from living life together like that also. It is the whole spectrum of experience that made our school what it was.

To you who lived VIS with me and to all those that came before me and after me, Thanks for being part of my family for all these years!