30 and counting ...

Early this month, in Daejeon, South Korea, Tan and I moved into a compact two-bedroom apartment, named "Shineville," across the way from one of our favorite seafood restaurants in town. 

It was a relatively low-impact move, as moves go, from one high-rise building, where we were up on the 12th floor, to a third-floor apartment, just around the block.  It also marked the 13th time we've done this since 2002.  

Goodbye our first Daejeon apartment ... 

I'd like to say we're experts at moving, but every time we relocate, it puts a strain on our budget and stress levels.  I know we'd prefer to stay in one place, but jobs, budgetary considerations, international opportunities, and the desire to be near someone's family here and there keep us on the go.



Altogether, from the day I was born, I have lived in three countries, eight states in the U.S. (although D.C. isn't technically a state), and in five provinces in Thailand.  If you throw in four years in college (five different dorm rooms and singles) and the places I lived when I was a child, I've had 30 different homes.  

Thirty homes ... yeah, I've moved a lot ... 

I'd like to say that all this has occurred because of my adopted life as an expatriate, but almost half of these residential changes took place before I ever got on the Peace Corps-bound plane to Thailand in 1994.

My first moving van! (1969)

For example, I was born and raised in Massachusetts.  Seems pretty settled, doesn't it?  Well, it does until you look at the fine print.

Between the year I was born and brought home to one town, Sherborn, southwest of Boston, and then went on to be raised in Acton, a more western suburb, the family had already moved across the country to Poway, California.  

Three towns and two states ... across a very wide country ... all in six years.  So, I guess I formed an intimate understanding of dislocation pretty early on.  

But within the dislocation is the sustaining idea that I'm basically a New Englander.  Thirteen of the thirty places that I've called home have been in the northeast (out of the 18 places I've lived in the United States).

A familiar sight (2005 pre-flight baggage check)

Somehow, I've also managed to move all my earthly possessions from one side of the earth to the other twice, the first time in 2005 when Tan and I moved to the U.S. and the second time in 2010, when we relocated back to Thailand.  I want to say this has taught me to downsize, but I'll have to refer the reader back to the previous paragraph and the fact that I am a New Englander (who likes books).

Finally, I'm also very happy to note that I've managed to actually outlive two of my former homes, which is a claim that not many people can make.  

Ashes to Ashes ... Home #11

Home number 11, a beautiful, old, white house that I lived in temporarily in Peterborough, New Hampshire, is now an abandoned ruin which is being swallowed up day-by-day by the surrounding forest; Home number 14, a concrete and wood government-issued house in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand, has simply collapsed after years of termite infestation and neglect.

I'm still going strong, and hope to remain so, through all the moves that are sure to come ...