Sunday, August 3, 2008

Autum nostalgia

It has been more than one month since I started at my new position in Illinois. It has been challenging but good. However, today I felt a little nostalgic about our life in Singapore.

I have been watering my lawn since the sod was recently laid and thus it requires almost daily care. Today I was preparing the hoses when I heard a familiar sound: The powerful honk of geese flying. I said familiar sound since our house is next to a lake and geese stay there for the summer. This time, however, a formation of around 15 geese flew just above me, maybe at 30 feet high. I could hear the flapping of their wings and their honks as they were preparing to land somewhere nearby.

As I looked at them I thought about their freedom to fly. In a sense, at that moment I felt I gave up my freedom to fly when I chose to come back to the USA and leave Asia. Maybe this is what finally means to settle down, I don't know yet.