Two years ago, I made the decision to move to Pakistan. This move meant that I moved away from home. Home. How do I describe this word? It’s more than a place, it’s a feeling. It’s the feeling that lets you know where you belong. Where you’ve family. Where you’ve comfort. Where you’re at ease. Where you’re yourself without a care of the world after a long excruciating day. Frankly, it’s also the place where you can spend the entire weekend in your pjs without judgment.
So, yes. Two years ago, I left home.
Since moving to Pakistan I have lived in one too many different houses for reasons that I don’t want to get into, reasons that you will not understand. So essentially, for two years I have lived out of a suitcase. Constantly moving houses. I actually have a roster that I go around. As mad as it sounds, its picked up a rhythm of its own.
I have on record joked that the only two things consistent in my life are my car and my job. Since they’ve become a part of my life here, they haven’t changed. Every single day you can expect me to get in my car, the same car and go to my office, the same office. Alhamdullilah.
A remark often passed is that “I don’t know how you do it” or upon meeting me “where are you living these days”. Here’s there deal: I don’t know how I do it. I really don’t. I understand that my suit out of a suitcase is fascinating and I am too, but I don’t know how I have lived the life I have for the past two years. They say necessity is the mother of invention, maybe I have trotted through because I had no other option available.
I’ll add that the life out of a suitcase doesn’t bother me on a daily basis because I try to keep myself as busy as possible. However, the only time it truly catches up with me is when someone throws the abovementioned statements in my face. It’s a conundrum of sorts. Whilst I expect this reaction all the time from family and friends alike and yet it catches me off-guard every single time.
It’s never easy living away from home. There are days that I wish I were home but the days someone poses these statements to me, those are the days that I want to be home the most. People don’t realise that their statements of so-called concern are actually insensitive. It’s a reminder to me that I am away from home.
So, if I may be sarcastic, thank you. Thank you for your concern. Thank you for the unintentional undertone. Thank you for the realisation.
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