THIS IS MY LIFE

Life is all about change, compromise and taking risks. If your life is on the same old, same old path, you have to have everything your way or no way and you never, ever take a risk, then what are you doing?

No life choice is without consequences, which could go either way. Moving to Singapore was a HUGE risk that comes with its faire share of rewards and moments that almost make me wonder why we left in the first place.

When we moved to Singapore, I gave up:

• Honey Nut Cheerios
• Bounty paper towels (paper towels here are so unbelievably inferior!)
• Ben & Jerry
• Target, Wal-Mart, Costco and any other one-stop store where we know we will be able to find things like craft supplies, Velcro strips, greeting cards, coolers, plastic cups, nice-looking throw-away dinnerware and office supplies
• The ability to drive to one grocery store for everything on my list
• The ability to drive
• The ability to ride in a vehicle without feeling car sick due to the constant pedal pumping and sudden braking
• Customer service – anywhere: on the phone, at a restaurant, in a store
• A great haircut at a non-bank-breaking price
• Amazing shoes that I could afford
• Amazing shoes that I could wear
• American Chinese food
• Pizza
• Burgers
• Hot dogs
• Baseball
• College football
• New England vacations
• Road trips
• Unedited movies and TV shows
• A normal oven
• A dishwasher

Sigh…if only all of these things could add up to the wondrous things that have changed my life for the better:

• Sunshine – every day
• Blue skies with giant, white, puffy clouds
• The ability to wear sundresses and sunglasses every day of the year
• The fact that coffee has become an event, not a drink
• Friends who are LI-trally all over the world
• A job that I love and don’t need to get paid to do
• A better relationship with my husband
• The ability to see my husband more than two days in a row, multiple times per week
• A church that Paul and I never want to leave
• The ability to travel around Asia for the cost of a Southwest ticket
• Having time to cook
• Amazing friends
• A business in my name that took me 15 minutes and $65 to create because this economy loves new business
• Real Chinese food
• A new perspective

Though my pro list is slightly shorter than the items sadly left behind, the benefits completely outweigh the losses.  My life today is a life that allows me to spend quality time and touch time and nap time with my husband; a life that allows me to do work I enjoy on my terms; a life that allows me to be in a climate that makes people happy (though sweaty).

I have amazing friends and amazing opportunities here that never would have happened had we not taken the risk to accept a job on the other side of the world. Yes, the grass is always greener but, in Singapore, the grass is more abundant.