We recently returned back to the States for a whirlwind visit. Two weeks. Seven airports. Three states. Five beds. Not ideal, but it was worth it to squeeze in time with as many friends and family as possible.
Wil has flown Stateside a few times for work, but it was the first time Liam and I had been back since moving to Japan in July 2014. Moving abroad comes with a long list of challenges, but I think the hardest one is the distance geography places between us and our loved ones. Email, Facebook, blogs, phone calls, snail mail and Skype do help to keep us connected but there is no substitute for the closeness of a face-to-face meeting.
For Liam, that meant jumping in bouncy castles with his cousins, so close in fact that he got bruised in the process. He slid down slides beside old friends. Cuddled with Grandpa. Begged snacks off of his aunts. Watched football with his uncles. Cooed at his newest baby cousin.
For us grown-ups, it meant a lot of wine, beer and coffee drinking, plenty of long conversations, many hugs and numerous promises to keep in better touch.
It wasn’t nearly enough time. But we knew that long before we boarded our plane at Narita. Even though our time was short, it was good to be reminded, tangibly, of the many friends and family who help make this nomadic life of ours possible. We may live thousands of miles apart but the love we carry with us is never truly far away.
susan dalzell 
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