Well, I did it. I clicked “purchase” and selected our seats on an airplane headed to the U.S. We’ll be back in Austin in August.
Yes… August. The worst time of year to be in Texas.
It was a near thing. We seriously considered staying. I’d spent months hinting and pointing out to the kids all of the benefits of living here versus life in U.S.
They would have none of it. Once again, a pros and cons list turns out to be useless as it fails to consider the weight of each item. (The stars were added by the kids.) Friends and pets trump all when you’re nine and eleven.
We could have pulled the parent card. After all, we’re the deciders. We know that another year would be so great for them in the long run. In the short run? Well, one of them would be unhappy but make do, and the other would be deeply unhappy and possibly scarred. Or not. Either way it would be fun for no one to live with one or two miserable kids all year.
What would you do?
The truth is, they are the ones who have done all the hard work. They go to school every day, in an unfamiliar culture, learn in a foreign language, attempt to catch up with a foreign curriculum, and try not to miss their friends too much. It’s exhausting. Compared to that, Rob and I have had it easy. They agreed to one year, one big adventure, for us. And now they’re done.
La verdad es que… I’m trying to get excited about coming home to heat, traffic, high prices, working on the weekend, and… middle school. Can the Alamo Drafthouse and Torchy’s Tacos make up for that?
Es difícile ser un adulto.