With our departure from Kenya only a few weeks away, we decided to pack up our house a little early--but within the allotted 30-day timeframe--in hopes that our household effects would arrive in Virginia as soon as possible to ensure a smooth transition for Aliza, Mosby, and ourselves. We clearly have accumulated a few more things in the two years we've lived here, including another person and a dog, and despite the fact that we'd sold many things back in April at the yard sale, there was still a large amount to cull through and decide what should stay and what should go. Both of us find the mental and physical aspects of packing up exhausting and we do not envy those that have to go through this exercise every few years.
There will be many things I will miss about this house and living here in Kenya, but several that I will not, to include: the protracted war we have been fighting against ants since first arriving; the bathroom shower that sprays the majority of water on the bathroom floor rather than on you; an invisible yet omnipresent mold problem, exacerbated in the cold and damp weather of winter, that makes all of us (primarily Kerry) sick; interior lights that take several seconds to fire up; and mud in the back yard so rich and sticky that it tattoos everything it comes in contact with.
Still, the house feels warmer than it did when we first arrived and before we had any of our stuff. It may be that the walls are painted, the garden is flourishing, we have friends, we understand the inconveniences of Africa, and we have carpets (finally). But more than that, it's been our home during a time of incredible and joyous change in our lives and challenges we didn't expect to face; a place we learned to be parents and where our first child learned to walk; a place that kept us safe during times of high crime and terrorism; a place I hope we remember fondly.
But we have a new home to go to and a return to a more normal life. This is someone else's home now.
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