Times, they are a’changing

A bonus

Jen is on a two-year contract working for the UN. This has some implications for how I’ve been thinking about the move. On the one hand, it means that there is potentially a point at which I might return to the UK. It’s a bit like having a date-stamped return ticket: you know you’re coming back, in this case in around two-years’ time.

But at the same time there might be the opportunity to stay on for a variety of reasons; indeed, if all goes well, we hope this will be the case. This means that the move might be a permanent one. After all, the return relocation will be (nearly, I imagine) as traumatic as the move out, albeit for different reasons.

So, I’m caught in a delicate but sustained balance between thinking I’ll return sooner or later. When the mood catches me that I’ll miss England, I remember I’ll be back; conversely, when I’m eager to leave, I know that it might be forever and I should never return. It’s a strangely comfortable state of ambivalence that I’m happy to enjoy. I know uncertainty can be exciting and daunting but I’m embracing this, as if only something good can come from it.

I think my approach is to enjoy the two years at the very least and think anything else a bonus.