I’ve been a big fan of The Displaced Nation for quite some time now. How could I not, with a tagline of ‘A Land of Plenty for the Global Voyager,’ promising advice, opinions and yarns? One of my favorite features on the site is the interview series called Random Nomads. The questions posed aren’t your average ’where [...]
Archive for the ‘Light Bulb Moments’ Category
Career Break? Yes Please!
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Expat Life, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Travel, tagged blogging, burnout, career break, Career Break Secrets, Career Break Secrets Travel Show, career change, global nomad, Jeff Jung, laid off, Random Nomads, serial wanderer, The Displaced Nation, travel, travel writing, unemployed on May 17, 2012 | 6 Comments »
To Show That They Existed
Posted in Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Identity, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, tagged collective memory, existence, expat life, Expatriate Archive Centre, expats, family, friends, hospital, illness, leave your footprint, legacy, love, making the world a better place, memories, mortality, Mother's Day, parents, remembrance, rootlessness on May 13, 2012 | 14 Comments »
Everyone wants to know, deep within, that their time on earth meant something to others. That their being here mattered. They mattered. It is human nature to want to leave your footprint on the world for others that come after you to see. For some, it is through their betterment of the immediate world around them. Think Mother [...]
A Delicate Balancing Act
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Change, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, First Year Blur, Light Bulb Moments, New to Nederland, The Animals, tagged Albert Heijn, balancing act, bravery, cat, change, Charley, courage, expat life, expat transition, isolation, limbo, loneliness, Netherlands, new expat, tightrope, walk the ledge on April 28, 2012 | 20 Comments »
It was a chance encounter yesterday on a crowded street that sent me back in time. As I turned the corner onto our nearby shopping street affectionately known as ‘the Fred,’ I caught a snippet of conversation. The young woman was seated at one of the outside tables of a local restaurant, twirling her forefinger along [...]
Sandwich Generation, Expat-style
Posted in Blogging, Change, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Travel, tagged children, elderly, expats, needs, parenting from afar, parents, sandwich generation on April 14, 2012 | 6 Comments »
Recently I caught up with a couple expat friends, enjoying koffie while sharing the latest on comings and goings. Spring is in the air, along with blooming trees, blossoming flowers and plants, and the necessary but dreaded pollen. Students are getting antsy, ready to break free of their daily grind (oh, if they only knew!) of classes, course [...]
Stellar Stonehenge
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Light Bulb Moments, Travel, tagged ancient, astronomy, Bucket List, England, equinox, lunar calendar, lunar eclipse, solar eclipse, solstice, stars, stellar, Stonehenge on April 12, 2012 | 16 Comments »
On a recent trip to England I had the opportunity to experience one of the items on my own personal bucket list: a visit to Stonehenge. And may I just say that it was everything I’d hoped it would be, and more. Competing theories abound as to the origination and purpose of Stonehenge: the massive [...]
The Upside of Humor
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Emotional Resilience, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Light Bulb Moments, Travel, tagged adventures, funny, giggles, humor, humorous anecdotes, jokes, knock knock jokes, laughter, Malta, smile on March 1, 2012 | 22 Comments »
You know what I realized yesterday? Humor is funny. Really funny. Let me rephrase that. I’m not talking about dark humor, sick humor, mean-spirited at the expense of someone else humor. I’m referring to your all-purpose humor. The good kind that makes you smile or giggle or even laugh out loud. It feels good. Humor has [...]
Daylight, a Reindeer and a Pack of Dogs
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, tagged busy, daylight, dogs, health threats, hopeful, laughter, meetings, overwhelmed, pleasure, problems, reindeer, Rudolph, signs, smile on January 14, 2012 | 10 Comments »
Some days you wake up and just ‘know’ that they’re going to be tough. You know the kind I mean. You didn’t sleep well the night before and you’ve got a busy day planned with back-to-back meetings, errands and appointments. You’re worried about a couple friends facing serious health threats and/or dealing with difficult issues. You’re out of milk [...]
Where There’s a Need, There’s a Way
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Family & Friends, Light Bulb Moments, tagged brain cancer, live in the moment, needs, pain, suffering, wanting on January 5, 2012 | 16 Comments »
Those of you who are kind enough to follow along here know that just before Christmas I learned of a dear friend who had emergency surgery in early December to remove a brain tumor. It’s been 18 months since I last saw her, and a good six months or more until I get another chance. [...]
Love, Peace, Action
Posted in Change, Family & Friends, Holidays, Light Bulb Moments, tagged 2012, call to action, Christmas, family, friends, holiday season, love, New Year's Eve, peace, resolutions on December 30, 2011 | 12 Comments »
If you’ve come looking for a succinct list of New Year’s resolutions, you’re in the wrong place. I wish I could be of more help, but unfortunately I’m not quite there yet. Believe it or not, this is actually one of my favorite times of the year because to my mind, it truly is a [...]
An Unexpected Change in Plans
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Netherlands, United States, Writing, tagged brain surgery, brain tumor, Carolina pines, chemotherapy, Christmas, family, friendship, loved ones, planting a seed, radiation, writing on December 24, 2011 | 19 Comments »
It’s Christmas Eve day. The aroma of my Jamie Oliver-inspired gravy wafts gently throughout rooms regaled in ornaments, decorations, pine boughs and tiny lights. Another half hour and I’ll start lighting some candles. Carols are playing softly in the background while Daughter and Husband work diligently on a holiday puzzle. But this is not the [...]
Cultural Lessons Gleaned In a Grocery Store
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Food and Drink, Light Bulb Moments, Netherlands, tagged Albert Heijn, ATM card, checkbook, cultural differences, expat, grocery store, pin card, The Netherlands, writing on October 22, 2011 | 16 Comments »
This morning Husband and I decided to take advantage of the glorious autumn weather by taking Oli on a long walk through nearby woods. The sun is out, the air is crisp, people are out walking, jogging and cycling; it’s an all-around gorgeous October day. After an hour of hiking through the wooded parkland, meandering [...]
Feel a Change Comin’ On
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Travel, tagged Bob Dylan, college, different countries, different time zones, empty nest, expat life, global parenting, parenting from afar, university, writing on October 17, 2011 | 10 Comments »
I’ve had the lyrics from that Bob Dylan song swirling around in my head these past few days. Have you ever felt that change is in the air? I don’t mean piddly little stuff. I’m talking about momentous change. The kind of feeling like you’re standing on a precipice: nothing but open air in front of you and rocks [...]
Steve Jobs Truly ‘Got It’
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, tagged Apple, genius, inspirational, Ipad, Iphone, Ipod, Macintosh, Steve Jobs, technological innovation, visionary, writing on October 6, 2011 | 4 Comments »
When you think of people in the past decades who have deeply influenced the world with their innovations, inventions, inspiration and sheer presence, the list isn’t all that long. Steve Jobs had incredible vision. He definitely saw things as they could be, and far beyond that. People know that he co-founded Apple, and brought the world the Apple [...]
Bearing Witness
Posted in Albert Heijn, Expat Life, Light Bulb Moments, Writing, tagged Balkans conflict, Bosnia, crimes against humanity, Croatia, Doctors Without Borders, ICTY, rape, The Hague, torture, UN, war crimes, writing on September 27, 2011 | 6 Comments »
This past weekend I had the opportunity to meet a fellow American for koffie at a local cafe. We were enjoying a gorgeous Indian summer spell of warm, sunny weather. It seemed as though everyone in The Hague had decided to reorder their day so that they could spend their time outside, soaking up the [...]
I Just Called to Say
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Family & Friends, Light Bulb Moments, tagged butt dialing, cell phone, concern, injury, phone call, sick, worry, writing on September 22, 2011 | 19 Comments »
I was typing furiously when my cell phone rang. Glancing down at its screen, I saw that it was Husband calling. That’s odd. I thought he was downstairs. Despite being in the middle of a particularly tricky scene in my novel, I reached for the phone. Husband and I have never been the kind of [...]
Broken Shards
Posted in Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, tagged Alaska, memories, Pentagon, September 11, writing on September 13, 2011 | 19 Comments »
Yesterday it finally happened. Something I’d worried about for years, but knew would eventually come to pass. I accidentally dropped my beloved mug on our hard tile floor in the hallway, and it smashed into pieces. Lots of people have favorite mugs for coffee or tea. Nothing new there. The reason that this one was my [...]
Earthquake? What Earthquake?
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Light Bulb Moments, Netherlands, tagged 4.5 earthquake, earthquake, Germany, Netherlands, Richter Scale, writing on September 9, 2011 | 16 Comments »
Okay, it’s official. I am nowhere near as sensitive to my surroundings as I’d like to think I am. Oh, I do make a concerted effort to be ‘in the now’. You know, observing where I am and using as many of my senses as I can, rather than rushing through life and missing so [...]
Pondering a Life in Balance
Posted in Expat Life, Family & Friends, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Netherlands, What I Love/Miss, tagged balance, canals, Netherlands, sea, sky, The Hague, water, woodland on August 6, 2011 | 21 Comments »
This morning as I took Oli for a long walk, I was deep in thought. An old friend had seen the recent New York Times article I’d shared on Facebook (The Dutch Way: Bicycles and Fresh Bread); he had popped up out of the blue to ask a few questions. At first I thought they were [...]
Twenty Three Days
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Travel, United States, tagged adult, child, college, grow up, mature, rite of passage, university on August 2, 2011 | 23 Comments »
Twenty three days. Twenty three short days. That’s the amount of time left until Son reports to university and begins his college career. He won’t be living at home and commuting to school. Nor will he be moving out into his own place to attend college nearby. He’s not even moving across the country. [...]
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