KennedysOnline

This past weekend, the kids and I attended a “Leaving Well” Seminar offered by our company.  The meeting focused on how to prepare to transition away from China, and how to re-enter your passport culture with some shred of dignity – in other words, its easy to fall apart during the chaos of grief, transition, packing & unpacking, reverse culture shock, loneliness and helping your kids do all this as well!

One of the tools they shared was developed by David Pollock, one of the early and most prominent writers/speakers on the topic of transition (and also my boss’ father!) — he suggests thinking about transition as if you were building a raft — based on R for reconciliation (asking for and seeking forgiveness, leaving relationships well), A for affirmation (giving and receiving affirmation for your contribution and those who contributed to your life), F for  farewells (saying meaningful goodbyes to the people, places and things that you cannot take with you, but have become a part of who you are) and T for think destination (beginning to look forward to the new place, with realistic expectations).

I guess Think Destination was on my mind the other day, when sitting in a patch of warm sunlight on my bed, day-dreaming a bit, the following little poem came to mind.  It was fun to write – keep in mind we haven’t had any of these things in 3 years!  I hope it is fun to read! *** WARNING – Tianjin friends, don’t read unless this is your summer at home ***

I want to eat a ridiculously yellow ear of corn,

sparkling with a hundred sea salt stars

and not worry about how much fat is in real butter.

I want to drink a huge – a supersize lemonade

with ice and pulp and sugar and just enough water

To help it all go down.

I want to smell and watch and hear a filet of salmon

turn from the faintest pink to shocking orange

over the flame of a well-used grill.

I want to hold a heavy crockery bowl of mint chocolate chip ice-cream

white, of course (who ever thought green ice-cream could taste good?)

from a black box with Breyers on the label.

I want to sit wrapped in a quilt on a faded Adirondack chair

in my own backyard with crickets and june bugs and unscented citronella candles

in the dark, with my children, my parents, my siblings, my friends, my husband.

And marvel at the wonder of such an evening.