What's Old is New

One factor that makes returning to a place you have lived before easier is the familiarity of where you lived; generally speaking houses, streets, schools, etc. are where they were.  There are expected changes such as different neighbors, businesses coming/going, new streets/subdivisions, etc.  The adventurous part of returning to a familiar place is not remembering things how they actually are.  Allow me to share some examples of my memory being different than how things are.

 

HUGE vehicles and an abundance of trucks and SUV's.

Massive car dealerships with up to 1800 cars in a lot.

Water fountains--love having free and readily available water.

Ice--in Europe not common and expensive ($10 a bag).

Pumpkins for Halloween, Thanksgiving and all things pumpkin-spice.

Jalapenos--available everywhere and almost free.

OREOS--at least 12 varieties.

M&M's--10 varieties.

Pop-Tarts--12 varieties ($7 a box in Norway).

Lays potato chips--8 varieties.

Pringles--15 varieties.

Cheerios--11 varieties.

Diced tomatoes--6 varieties.

Orange juice--5 varieties.

The amount of variety of food baffles me.  Add into the picture that you also get to choose different sizes and equivalent products from competitors.  I use to complain about the limited selection overseas and now I am overwhelmed.  Recalibrating what is the new normal.

Ho-Hum

Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.  Living overseas going to the stores and finding what you wanted/needed was an adventure with the language difference being an added challenge.  After moving back to Houston we have the task of finding the best places for the products and services that we need but we do not have the language barrier so we are a little bored.  What we found to be an annoyance before is now what we miss.

On a somewhat related note after living in places where English was not the primary language I like hearing Spanish in many of the public places I go.  I miss hearing foreign languages.

Perfect

Even if you are fluent in a language every now and then you come across a word that you would not usually think of that perfectly describes an action, thought, emotion or situation.  Several weeks ago I was talking about our trans-Atlantic move with some new friends.  The word in the response that caught my attention was "recalibrate."  Wow!  There are many great adjectives to describe the process of repatriation but I immediately latched onto this new descriptor.

To recalibrate means to made adjustments to restore accuracy.  We are an operating family that requires some "fine-tuning" to optimize our functionality.  When recalibrating an instrument it may take a while involving many small adjustments perhaps finding that perfect balance between over-compensation and under-compensation.  I can only speak for myself but the word "recalibration" is a perfect way of describing our current adventure.

Getting Things Done

So...we have a lot less stuff than when we left Houston, but we are finding that we have more stuff than we realized.  Moving can be cleansing...for the closet/storage.  A garage sale is in the near future.  Conversely while we de-clutter/purge we are purchasing items to replace what no longer works, fits in or we no longer have but need.

Organizing your own house (versus a rental) is a two-sided coin; on one side you finally get to arrange/organize things the way you want, how you want and where you want making your house your home.  On the other side of the coin you have to arrange/organize things, you can't have the attitude that you are only going to be there a short while so you throw your stuff into a box and leave it in the attic/garage/basement.  The blessing and the curse.

The "to-do" list seems never ending but the process is continuing and we are slowly getting things in order which does provide a sense of satisfaction and is starting to make our house feel more like a home.