The Way We Live

Its funny the things we can get used to.

We've been living under the cloud of a pending move to Washington DC for about a year now. For most of that time, had we received an email invitation to the Foreign Service, we would have been living in Washington within 8 weeks. We prepared the girls for such a move, and got them excited about DC.

That call still hasn't come, still hangs over our heads, but we don't talk about it to the girls as much. They no longer remember most of the friends we have there.

Possibly because of this mindset, we picked up and moved to Shenzhen within 2 weeks this summer. We've settled quite well, even with the cloud of an uncertain future hanging over our heads. When people ask how long we expect to be here, I don't really know what to answer. If Dave gets into the Foreign Service, we could move as early as mid-March. If he doesn't, we could be here for another year after this one. The 1-year contract everyone signed for us has not yet taken effect, and the girls have landed well in Shenzhen. Could be that we're facing stability, and the same address for 2 years in a row!

But the uncertainty still prevails. Dave will start work on this new contract any day now. He got an email last week asking him to go to the U.A.E. for 6 weeks or so, starting today. Only on Saturday did he learn the city (Abu Dhabi - how cool is that?). And still today, he's been given no travel plans. Our best guess at this point is that Dave will fly to Abu Dhabi tomorrow, for somewhere between 1 and 6 weeks. But we won't know for sure until tomorrow, when he either does or does not catch a plane.

This new uncertainty makes the old stuff seem simple. As does having lived with it for a while now. But I can't make plans for this weekend if Dave may be away. I can't make plans for tomorrow's dinner if Dave may be here. I can't make plans for Thanksgiving, because I don't know how long he'll be gone. Dave has pushed back, saying 6 weeks is far too long to spend away from his family. I expressed that this uncertainty, and this long trip are not very good employee treatment. Dave answered that it certainly is not - that's why they hire a consultant rather than use their own employees. And a globally mobile one at that. Fair enough.

Clearly, I am actually fixing dinner tomorrow, and life is going on as usual around this uncertainty. But I'll admit, its giving me a big headache.