There is nothing like coming through customs on arrival in
your country of citizenship. It is simply an easy process, there are hardly any questions or concerns
rather it is usually a bit of back and forth of why we live in England, how it
is or isn’t better, then a stamp on the paperwork and a hardy welcome back to
the States. This is the same format we followed again on Tuesday at Detroit’s
Wayne County Airport when first entering back into the USA. It’s been nearly
two since we tread on this soil and while it seems as though nothing has
changed I think that we have. Reminds me a bit of when you look up at a tall
structure and it totally looks as though it’s moving even though it is clearly
the clouds behind which are exhibiting movement.
By no stretch of the imagination is the UK a third-world
country, so far from it but it is different than the US and we don’t experience
the ease of living in the UK as we do when we are back in the US. For us on
this trip it is the extreme amount of choice which is available in every shop
we walk into, and we can choose from any number of shops that are all open
seemingly all the time. It feels weird to stride into a store and feel
overwhelmed, if I lived in the darkest, deepest jungle I would expect reverse
culture-shock but not coming from our life in Overton.
Upon leaving the shopping centre we pulled out onto the 5
lane highway where there was hardly another car or truck, just open roads,
unlike what we experience daily with the B3400, Basingstoke traffic and endless
roundabouts. Driving here again took us by surprise, the ease, the space, and
the expansive car parks which stretch for what seems like miles linking shop
after shop. There are other subtle
difference which captured our attention; the vivid colours of the leaves was
beautiful, the always pleasing ice machines accompanying any fast-food drink
purchase, the indoor mall where I could hear a pin drop as I walked from one
store to the other, a far cry from the hectic nature of Festival Place in
Bstoke or any other shopping centre in the UK.
I hope I’m not coming across as whinging or complaining,
rather stating what I see as some differences and dealing with the
proliferation of choice that drives the American life and economy. In some
respects it feels like a whole other world, it obviously isn’t and I did live
here for 34 years so it’s not foreign, I think that I have changed more than
it.
This idea of a whole other world is one that is so real to
an adopted child or a child placed into care. Can you imagine how much change a
little one must go through when moving from one house to the next or transferring
into a permanent home? All that was
known, the sounds, smells, tastes, layout of the house, pets, toys etc… it is
all different as much as a new home is provided it can never be the same. It is
impossible to imagine what wholesale change like that must feel like. It’s the
same world but it probably feels like a whole new one for the toddler or infant
who has likely struggled to understand the situation they had been. I think that we must take for granted just
how much change little lives go through, as much as we prepare and do our best
to guide children through the adaptation of being adopted or fostered it will
not fully prepare them for the massive change.
Rebecca and I look forward to the change, we know it will be
like a whole other world to have children who are in our family, ones that we
care for daily. In thinking about it I look forward to dropping into shops
trying to find clothing items for them, or even just a little toy or trinket
which will bring a smile. We have desired this 'new world' in our lives for quite sometime, we also know that for our child/children it will be a whole new world too, one that will be brand new to navigate through.
