Family

My sister Kim, her husband Nathan, and their 6-month old baby boy Camden, flew in on Friday night for a week long visit. Finally, after missing Camden's birth in November, I was able to meet the little guy. When I left for Spain in September, I knew I would not only miss out on his birth, but also on my chance to help my sister during that time and I wouldn't be around to help until I returned. And since then, I've been thinking about not only the personal sacrifices we make by studying abroad, doing programs like I did for a year, doing peace corps for 27 months, or just plain old moving permanently to another country, but also the family obligations we are choosing to push aside.

My family was more than supportive of my decision to leave for Spain but my Mom did remind me of what I would be missing. I had some time, obviously, to get used to the idea that I would be missing this event in my sister's life and I had some time to prepare for being very homesick during that time, so all in all I fared pretty well. But then I think about some of my friends who have done programs like Peace Corps and who didn't go home for at least a year. I imagine that if I had been doing something like that and found out while I was over there that my sister was pregnant, and knew I wouldn't be back until after the baby was born, it would have been extremely difficult.

Part of the reason I decided not to return to Spain next year was that I felt I had already missed out on enough. Who knows how often I will be able to see Camden now that I'm home, because hopefully soon I will be starting a job and will be very busy, but it's nice to know I have the option to see family on holidays and for important events.