homecoming + pain

Nostos [homecoming] + Algia [pain] = Nostalgia!

Definitions for Nostalgia on the web:

dictionary.reference.com
a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one’s life, to one’s home or homeland, or to one’s family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time: a nostalgia for his college days.

http://www.answers.com
A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past.
The condition of being homesick; homesickness.

When you are a Third Culture person – adult or child – you can many times experience the feeling of nostalgia. It’s that home sickness, longing within, that that makes you think of home when you are elsewhere and when you are “home” you think and long for that “other place” in your life.

When you live in two [or more] cultures you become rootless in a way. You never fully belong anywhere. People always wonder were you come from even if you come “from there”. You belong nowhere and you belong everywhere.

I try and not be nostalgic [too much] but it happens. I can be in one of my cultures and still long for that culture. It’s really weird.

But our time here is temporary and we really should try and focus on the eternal. Life is short. Make the best of it. Enjoy… today.. where you are at and whom you are with. Remember, as cliche as it sounds, YOU are NOT ALONE, there’s a bunch of us like you! The nostalgia, the pain will pass…

…And in the end, this is how I have coped of not being at home – wherever that now really is – is that my home is where my heart is, and my heart is with my family!

longing for roots, Kat