Making This World The Place We Hope It Can Be

My husband and I left the United States almost seven years ago. We had long considered moving abroad and were, after 14+ years in New York City, finally ready. We arrived at Narita Airport in Tokyo on Christmas day.

All things considered, the particulars of life in Japan were almost identical to that in New York. We worked during the day, relaxed with friends at night, and traveled over weekends. The difference was that everything felt novel again, refreshing. The early days were easy, we were still just tourists - content to consume as much culture and food as we could.

Then we decided to start a family. With the first, and second, tiny bundles of joy, life abroad gained a million new dimensions. How would I negotiate a pregnancy, a newborn, and then another without my mom, sister, and best friends... in a country where I could barely speak or read the local language?! I had to put the days of fancy free pleasure-seeking on pause while I addressed immediate needs, sorted out practicalities, and found a community of other new parents to learn-with and lean-on. 

And so, the process of becoming a global citizen had begun. I was in the challenging - and fortunate - position of revisiting some of life’s fundamental questions. I grappled with the idea of personal identity, I tried to determine my values and priorities, to understand exactly what citizenship meant. I tethered back and forth between living in ‘my world’ and ‘The World’. My world was raising a family, buying a home, finding a school for the kids. The World, however, was getting to know my neighbors, engaging with local issues, and supporting causes important to me. 

While my journey abroad has been marked by a series of complexities, my children's story is a different one. They understand that people can have many homes, not defined by geography or culture. They connect to people and things according to who makes them laugh, who is kind, what is exciting. I have faith that my kids, and so many of the lovely children around us, will finally make this world the place that we all hope it can be.

- Jessica A.