As I sit in Bangkok looking out the window, I’m once again forced into reflection on how it is I got here. (Not literally, of course. That would be Thai Airways and a lovely car from the hotel.). The fact is that little things happen which can have a great impact on your life further down the line.
In 1976, I was born in a smallish town called Malvern. I don’t remember living there and really the only thing it means to me is that I have to put it on every form I fill out. Such is life. Soon after we moved to Little Rock and then to Texarkana. (A can-do city according to the song I learned in kindergarten that for some reason I still remember.). Dad got a new job and moved us to Port Orange, which probably changed my path in life. If we’d stayed there I probably would have gone to the university of Arkansas and become a lawyer and lived there, probably quite happily. But moving to Florida changed everything. Because of the move, dad was chosen to go on an exchange to another country and took us to Australia when I was in 8th grade, and it exposed me to the world outside of the life I knew. There was more out there, and I wanted to see it.
When I applied to college I was accepted at University of Miami and GW. I went to GW, and again broadened my horizons. I was going to be an International Lawyer, and travel the world. Then I had my appendix taken out a week before the LSATs, and didn’t do well enough to go to Law school. Instead I took the Foreign Service exam on a whim, and passed it. I got a job in DC working at a law firm and realized I didn’t want to be a lawyer. Joined the State Department instead. First assignment, Suriname, wasn't what I expected but ended up enjoying it and meeting lovely people. I marched in Carnival in Trinidad. I stayed in a hut in a village in the middle of the rainforest. I had my own radio show. And because my post was considered a hardship, I was rewarded London. It was there I really found myself, and of course my Lovely English Lass. We moved to DC and then to Luxembourg where we had the kids. Got to go to Afghanistan, and then to South Africa, and then to Argentina. Then to Pakistan and now to Manila, which leads me to standing in my room looking out the window at Bangkok.
My kids have now lived on 5 continents and will have visited 6 of them by the end of next month. They’ve been on Safari, driven cattle in Argentina on horseback, and been to Hong Kong Disneyland. They’ve seen the Scottish Highlands and visited the reclining Buddha. Next month they see Uluru.
This isn’t me bragging, just showing how something small can impact everything in your life. My dad moving us to Florida. Us going to Australia. Me going to GW. My appendix almost bursting. In March of 1976, I doubt my parents would have imagined any of that, or that their middle son would move literally around the world. It’s a long way from Malvern to here. It makes me wonder what my kids will do with their lives, and if they will appreciate how far we’ve all come.
