Back in the game

So I guess you could say I took a bit of a blogging break.  Things got a little busier and my days didn't get any longer and well. . . I don't know how many people actually read this.

I am back in the U.S. enjoying life.  There definitely are some conveniences and luxuries here that are nice to have again: my bike, pork, all of my stuff, a car.  This is all stuff that is, shall we say, flammable.  Don't get me wrong, it is great to be closer to a lot of important people in my life and that is meaningful and a huge blessing.  But, some of the things that I would just really want sometimes really aren't that important.  Now that I have the things I wanted, I want the things that I had (I long to spice up my diet with a adana durum or to mop up some lentil soup with ekmek).  It is a pretty cool illustration in my own life of how the material is immaterial.  It ultimately doesn't matter.  This is a good thing to remember during my forays into bastions of American commercialism when it is so easy to think that stuff will make me happy.

I am living in a very different place, surrounded by very different things.  My time looks different.  But, interestingly, things inside of me aren't really that different.  Maybe that seems obvious, but I think it is interesting.  I have pretty much the same issues and struggles as I did living overseas.

Recently, I was telling someone that the transition has made me think more about the core of who I am.  This would be the things about you that never change with circumstances.  When so much changes around you, it seems that your immutable core should become more and more defined.