Leaving (or what to pack when everything you need is at home)

A few nights before we are leave to live and teach for two years in Bogota, Colombia, my 12-yr-old son calls me up to his bedroom. The room is dark and he is buried inside the cocoon of blankets and quilts he makes for himself on the floor each night. His – and everyone’s – anxiety about our move has been climbing faster than the mountains of stuff that now topple over the “for Colombia” tubs placed in everyone’s room.

“So, tell me again why we’re going to Colombia?” he throws out into the room’s darkness.

Possible answers flash through my mind like….


The Dorothy Explanation:“ Well, I know we live in an absolutely wonderful neighborhood, in a fantastic town with incredible friends….but this is all you guys have experienced and maybe you really can’t appreciate all you have without seeing something else.”

The ‘Go West Young Man' Explanation: “Well, the world is an incredible place, and experiencing other parts of it makes for both an exciting adventure and something that really broadens your horizons.”

The 'It’ll hurt now, but it’s good for you' Explanation: “ You are growing up in an age of globalization. So, while you wouldn’t choose to try to function in a completely different culture for two years while you are also about to smack right into your adolescence; in the long run, it will prepare you well for the adult world you will encounter (and, of course, it might also look good on your college application.”

The 'Jump Ship' Explanation: “It’s pretty depressing to read the papers here everyday – so let’s go somewhere else.”

The 'Step off the Treadmill' Explanation: Life just seems to move faster and faster and Dad and I haven’t found away to successfully slow it down. So we want to have a true family adventure before you guys are old enough to hate hanging out with us.

But, instead, because I’ve read too many parenting books (and because at this stage all my answers to this question have begun to feel pretty weak in comparison to the strength of our connections to our small little corner of the world), I turn the question back on him. “Well, why do you think we’re going to Colombia?”

“Two reasons,” he offers up from his pillow. “ 1) Dad’s having a mid-life crisis, and 2) Dad’s having a midlife crisis.”

Wisdom comes from strange places!