I’ve been in a funny space lately. After 18 months we are finally on furlough from Copenhagen, Denmark and are able to come “home” for awhile to Seattle, Washington. This means big reunions with family and friends, lots of cocktails and laughter, and a fare amount of disorientation.

My Facebook quiz for “Which Mental Disorder are You” brought up “bipolar” — to which I say “No doi!” I’m really feeling my tendency to swing between polar opposites as I spend the summer alternating between a happy sense of belonging, and a disquieting sense of displacement. I’m shuttling between Seattle (for migraine treatments) and Hartsine Island (my parent’s retreat) so my bag is always packed and my head has seen many different pillows. I don’t have a regular sleep schedule; my meals are extraordinarily ad hoc;  and at one point I had to brush my teeth in the car using  the watered-down leftover diet coke for a rinse. Yes, I am a vagabond.

All this joy and confusion has got me to wondering: “What are the core things I know about myself?” In the face of expectations from family and friends, what do I know to be true? Furthermore, what do their response to my presence tell me about myself? So here’s *8Things I Know for Sure About Moi.

1. People like me, they really like me. It’s been so touching to have everyone receive me with open arms; confess that they secretly kindasorta hoped Paul would get laid off so we could return to the States early; and make ticks on a cocktail napkin to start counting down the days until we are back for keeps. Some how I never really got it before. Thanks peeps!

2. I really do create community wherever I go. I always doubted if there was a real “there there” amongst my community-building efforts. But yesterday my darling neighbor Barbie drove some reality home when she told me, “You never know how things are going to be in advance, you know? But this street just isn’t the same without you.”

3. I am getting stronger. My health was really in the crapper when I got here, but if I can keep going relatively pain-free with all this wacky sleep and these long drives, then I MUST be getting healthier.

4. I Like Working. My vocational calling as a writer/teacher/community builder is very strong right now. I miss writing and coaching while I’m away, but it’s just been too busy for me to get much work in. I’m trying to trust that I can pick up all my series when this trip is over.

5. My health demands life in GranolaVille. Naturopaths, NAET practitioners, treatment massage, and stores that carry gluten-free foods are a must for me. I can’t live in the land of western-only health care. It just doesn’t work.

6. I’m closer to my husband than I thought. Paul and I are not all that mushy-gushy romantic, and I LOVE solitude (see my post on the hermitish life.) So  I didn’t think I’d miss him that much while we are apart for 6 weeks. WRONG!  I totally adore our daily talks and IM’s and feel super confident in our partnership together. (Mwah, Baby!)

7. I can survive without solitude. It’s not easy, but I can get through.

8. I can’t think of one more…why don’t you tell me a true things about me as you see me? Oooo….intriguing!

What are the *8Things I Know for Sure about yourself? What truths help you hold your core? Put them in the comments below, or grab a buttonand play along by putting your permalink in the list below. Thanks for being here!

It’s vacation time—a time when we so often return to a place we’ve once lived, or a holiday spot we love and come to again and again. I’ve recently returned to the States after a year and a half abroad, and I’m finding the reverse culture shock rather intriguing.  So this week’s list is all about the *8Things you experience upon returning to a favorite spot. What is is like when you go to your childhood home? Are there patterns you immediately fall into? (When I walk into my mother’s house, I always have to check the pantry for Oreo cookies, even if I’ve juste aten.) What happens when you return to a favorite vacation spot? (My daemon downloads poetry to me the second I see the sea.) Here are my *8 Signs of Re-Entry:

1. Feeling energized and giddy with the way people dress in my home town. (Jeans under second-hand dresses! Dredlocks! Practical funky shoes! Recycled and re-purposed clothing!)

2. Getting teary because the cashier at the organic co-op chatted with me as she checked me out, and thanked me for bringing my own bags.

3. Smiling giddily just because two teenage girls said, “Oh, sorry!” when they walked in front of me at Target. Ditto with how small children interact with me in the check out lines.

4. Being pleasantly surprised that the smell of fast food joints makes me nauseous and I no longer crave fries.

5. Enjoying driving. (Course, I am borrowing a convertible…)

6. Crying in the produce section of the organic supermarket because, as Catie put it, “Everything in here is like ART Mommy!”

7. Laughing a LOT more, especially with my Mom and Dad, and watching the children laugh, play and just generally have lighter countenances.

8. The deep, satsifying hum of knowing Iwill see someone wonderful, fascinating, and dear to my heart every couple of days as I reconnect with friends.

What *8 Signs of Re-Entrydo you experience on vacation or when you return to some place familiar? List your *8Things in the comments below or grab a button and play along, by adding your post’s permalink in the list below. Thanks for being here!

Cate’s year of adventures, starting with the amusement park Tivoli in Copenhagen.

Dear Catie,

This morning when I woke up I was chewing, chewing, chewing away about what to write to you for this your Number Nine Birthday.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how Mama and Grandpa like to tease you about getting so grown up. I always say, “Catie! Who told you you could grow up so fast!” And Grandpa says you have to stay 8 another year because he missed your Number 8 year while you were in Denmark. (At least he’s “letting” you turn 9 when we celebrate all the cousins’ birthdays next week!)

But you know what Cate? I don’t think it’s very nice of us to tease you so. You are great at every age!

©       We loved you when you were one second old and crying softly in the operating room.

©       We loved you when you were Baby Cate and your tiny little tushy never touched the ground because no one ever wanted to put you down.

©       We loved you when you were a toddler and said such funny things like “I am getting fwusterated” and “I got distwacked” and “That’s ig-GUSTING!” and “I NOT yelling. I cweaming. You know, CWEAMING!!!!”

©       We loved you when you started school and uncovered your Superpower of being the Worlds Friendliest Child.

©       And we love you now when you are still just the right fit for a cuddle, but getting so big and independent as well.

Every age and stage of life is full and good things and challenges. And just because we love your little self so, we shouldn’t make you think there’s not fantastic stuff ahead in your bigger and bigger girl self. Because baby, there is some good stuff waiting for you this year. Nine is just fine!

This year you did so many big kid things! You learned Danish, a language so hard even Mama can’t learn it – yet you speak it like a pro. Danish grownups always say how perfect your accent is! And you’ve made friends from all over the world: Danish pals like Sara and Sidse, Mia from China, and dear, sweet Johanna from Estonia. You get to do a lot more independent things now, like taking the dog out by yourself or riding your bike to the library with Eden. You even get to walk to the train station to meet Daddy for dinner at McDonalds! Woah!  I don’t think I got to do any of that stuff until I was at least 10 – and that was in the old days when kids got to do that stuff younger. You are really doing great on the responsibility thing Cate!

I hope you will always remember your wonderful year of adventures: riding the double-decker bus in London; drawing the David in your sketch book in Italy; learning about old fashioned skole in Sweden; and picking up pebbles from the Berlin Wall in Germany. And don’t forget the Towers and Dome Tour of Europe with Eden and Daddy! I wonder how many steps you three have climbed to get to the top of the world?

I know this birthday summer here on the island with Giggy, Bompa and the cousins is going so fantastic for you. I’m so glad you get to start Year Nine off in such a beautiful place. I hope the peacefulness of this place – the still morning waters, the long glowing sunsets, and the hush of the rustling trees—sinks down deep inside you and fills you up for when times are not-so-easy. And I know you will be filled up to the top with joy as you run around with your sister and cousins: going out in the double kayak with Preston, building forts and hunting for treasure with Noah and Luke, and showing Jilly and Amelia all the best places to find crabs. Not to mention all the fun that is waiting for us still with the big Chapman cousins in Chicago. (Oh, Mommy cannot stand to look when y’all have Danger Adventures with the big boys! “Do you know you are very strong?”)

I love you Cate Shalom, and I’m so proud of my growing-up “Baby Cate.”

Lots of Love,

Mama

Cate loves collage, drawing, cooking, giggling and screaming. She celebrated her birthday with mocktails, sushi, and a Costco cake that could feed approximately 3,000. She is having 5 birthday parties this year in 2 countries, 3 cities, and 4 houses. You can celebrate her for hours here and here.

Just one of many Solstice celebrations, this one at the house on Rockaway Beach. 

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It is not quite 5am and the dark is slowly dimming to reveal pine trees like shadow puppets awaiting the stage. Beyond them the water is still as glass waiting or the faithful northwest kayakers who will slip out at the dawn, leaving a silent wake in their path.

We are finally at my parent’s coastal retreat, Pura Vida, a beautifully appointed home on a tiny island in the Puget Sound. Everyone is asleep, save me, the insomniac with jet lag. But in a place a still and beautiful as this, who can be worried about a few hours of lost slumber? (Beside, the hammock is waiting on the deck below, should sleep come calling in the afternoon.)

The house will not be quiet long as Pura Vida is full of happy grandparents and boisterous children – soon to be joined by more boisterous children and chatty mamas when the cousins arrive. My Irish roots will show big and bold and the gift of gab will be used in full force over the coming weeks as we greet each other in a rush of words and stories. In the happy, overwhelming rush of family reunion, these sleepless quite moments in the early morn will be my hermit-ish ying to the jolly yang of our happy clan. A time to reflect and write, and sooth the frayed edges of a soul worn down by the coldness of life abroad, now stretched to a joyful bursting point by the warmth of familiarity and common bonds.

 Already we have be embraced by the loving arms of people we cherish:  the Curran-Coolmans who took our battered jet-lagged selves into their home so full of art, and story, and affection; the sweet child-like family at BF Day Elementary who jumped up and down to see us all on the sugar-filled high of the last day of school; the colorful chaotic buzz of the artists prepping for Solstice celebrations, awash in paper mache; the affection of our son-adopted-by-affection who apparently “does not get enough love” (hard to believe given the lovely young woman who rarely leaves his side); and the teary embrace of our dear friends Lynette and Dwight who could not possibly have more generous hearts toward we the ornery wanders.

All of that goodness in the first 48 hours—a restorative tonic for the 18 months spent in a culture which barely says “hello.”

And now, seven glorious weeks on the shores of placid sea, listening to the giggles, finding crabs under rocks, plucking oysters off the rocks for our supper, and wondering again why it was that we ever went away.

 Today Brother Sun will shine his goodness down on all of this wonder, creating from his rays the longest, most glorious day of the year. And I will see very dear moment of it, until his Sister the Moon arrives to tucks us in, just so we can rest and begin it all again.

Happy Solstice.

Today’s Ask Magpie question is from Jen Luit of Hollyhouse Studios via Twitter (mine: hers):

“How do you split time between 2 countries? What’s the deal with that? Any why don’t you have anything in your Etsy shop?”

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It is nearly 9pm and the Sun is still holding on to the sky by her fingertips.  After a short nap, she will start creeping up again around 4:00am, when I will dig my sleep mask out from under my pillow and hope my tendency towards insomnia will not be triggered by this unseemly light.

This is one of the things I love most about our Scandinavian life – these long days of light which grace us now, trying so diligently to make up for the 6 hours of half-light that haunt us all winter.

We moved to Denmark in February ‘08. Microsoft has an office near Copenhagen and we’ve always want to live in Europe, so Paul lobbied for a transfer.  We were warned that Danish culture is notoriously difficult to break into – sort of like we were warned about how hard it was to raise children. Since at one point we had two kids under 2 years old, I think you can see how good we are at heeding this kind of advice.  So here we are living Life Abroad in Copenhagen, trying our best to avoid acting like “ugly” Americans. (As the saying goes, “In Denmark you are free…free to conform.)  

We still have a house in Seattle, where our 19yo adopted-by-affection still lives.  But I can’t really say “split our time between 2 countries,” since we haven’t been stateside since we left. Our British pals are constantly shocked that we haven’t been “home” in 18months. But once we reminded them that their plane tickets home are $150US and ours are $1,000, they start to get the picture. After a year and a half in Europe, the girls and I will spend seven weeks in Seattle this Summer. (Paul will come for part of it.) While there I’ll spend a small fortune on migraine treatment (blech) and host our first ever Soulsister’s retreat on a beautiful island in the Puget Sound. (yeah!)

I closed my Etsy shop when I left my Seattle studio, but last week I floated an idea for a joint project past  soulsister Jolie Guillebeau, and I’m hoping my sister-in-law’s Magpie necklaces will be sweeping the nation sometime soon. In the meantime, if any of y’all want to go Etsy shopping here’s a little link love:

-Stacy at Bella Wish has these beautiful Taking Flight necklaces, inspired by Kelley Rae Robert’s book. She also offers these beautiful memorial medallions, which I adore.

-Speaking of Kelly Rae, she sells out faster than daylight in Danish winter, but if you like pretty things with soul, do stop by and see what you can lay your hands on.

-Jolie Guillebeau and Rowena Murillo are both a part of our Sacred Commerce experiment. Spread a little love around by ordering from their shops. Jolie will send you a miniature watercolor with her pretty earrings, and Rowena’s Flying Girl prints are whimsical and inspiring.

-And don’t forget today’s Ask Magpie questioneer, Jen Luit, who has loads of cute stuff at Four Corners, including these earth-friendly re-useable lunchbags.

Thanks for helping me get my writing mojo back up and running with Ask Magpie!  ”Ask me a question, I’ll tell you no lies.” See you soon.

Read something at Magpie Girl that’s set you to wonderin’? Ask Magpie in the comments below…

the small lake at my local park, from my February dreamboard.

We recently passed the one year mark of life here in Copenhagen. Baring lay-offs, we have a mandatory two-year assignment. But given Paul’s ship cycle, and what he needs to do for and with his team, we’re looking down the barrel of being here at least three years. … Can you tell by my metaphor how I am feeling about this?

For a long time I thought I would get used to being in Denmark. I was eager to live abroad, and I knew from experience that I like learning and living in cultures that are not my own. Plus, my graduate school was very international, and I enjoyed that mixed-culture experience very much. So I’ve been surprised at my inability to adjust to life abroad.

For the past year I’ve been on the “accentuate the positive” bandwagon most days– listing all the things I like about living here and trying to embrace the bits that I enjoy. But the reality is, while I like living outside of the U.S., DK is not the best fit for me.

February in northern winters is by far the hardest month. So much so that at my Seattle college our advisors told the freshmen to “never change your boyfriend, your haircut, or your major in February.” Nonetheless, February is when it struck me that maybe I am not going to come to terms with it. Maybe this is never going to fit right, to become my community, to feel like home.

I was listening to a story on This American Life recently in which the narrator was describing a heated debate between two political opponents. He noticed that the only time the crowd seemed to be experiencing something as a joint experience was when photos of the war were put up on a screen. When that happened stillness filled the room. What he said about this still space was this:

“Forget all the arguments. Let’s just sit by this lake, and try to figure out its name.”

At first I didn’t understand why this phrase was capturing my heart. Then Jena pointed out that the whole story was using the language of struggle and that I have been living in midst of two great struggles: the struggle to live cross-culturally; and the struggle to live with chronic pain. For a long time I’ve thought that there were only two choices about how to respond to these struggles: “Stand and Fight,” or “Lay Down and Die.” But what if there is a third way? What if it involves sitting in the place where stillness pools. What if it involves turning around, looking into the face of loneliness, and saying, “Okay, so you’re here now. Have a seat.” What if it involves—not a frantic search for meaning—but just sitting on a park bench and waiting to see what happens. What if? What if?

I want to step out of the struggle. I want to stop trying to like it here. I want to stop trying to be brave about being in pain. I want to step out of the energy of the struggle, sit by the lake, and see if it will tell me its name.

Eden and Cate wish for a return to Rome at the Trevi Fountain. When we went back to visit it all lit up at night, gelato in hand, Eden said “I’ve never been this happy before in my life! To be at the Trevi Fountain! At Night! Eating Gelato!”

Delicious Baby’s Photo Friday this week was an ask for travel photos with kids. We’ve are traveling all over Europe with our two grade schoolers and the experience is fantastic. I couldn’t pick just one photo, so I gathered all the kid photos up in one Flickr file here. Most of the photos have a little story attached. Have a bon voyage with us!

Paul stayed up most of the night to watch the votes come in. We woke up the girls at 6am to watch Obama’s acceptance speech.

Hope. A call for shared sacrifice. Hundreds of thousands of people, maybe millions gathering across the U.S. to celebrate. Wow!

Here and here are how it was reported in Denmark (translated version).

Dear World,

We are sorry for the last eight years.
We are working very hard to fix things today.
Wish us luck.

Rachelle