Home

I had a wonderful trip, and loved every single minute of it. Rio was hot, some would even say too hot, with the temperature wavering between the upper 80's and mid-90's, but I love the heat.

The Boy loved Rio as well, got to meet the rest of my family, and now thinks I'm slightly retarded for having left Rio for the US. At the time, I had dreams of a wonderful well paying career, who knew that I'd just end up at a job? One that barely covers the bills?

I visited Brazil many times in the past, I always go for 3 weeks, and usually by the 3rd week I'm aching for home, home now being the US. Last time I visited, that didn't happen, but I had too much going on here to move back to Brazil.

This time, I also didn't miss at all my life in DC. If it wasn't for the Boy, I'd pack things up and move back to the country of samba. It was the first time I visited, that living in the US no longer feels right.

Of course, the Boy doesn't speak the language (though he has learned how to order a beer in Portuguese), and his career, because he actually has one, would end. No US government jobs in Brazil.

I know I could certainly get a better job there than what I have now, since over there my options aren't limited to "only those places that will sponsor me for a visa."

I know that living in a place where winter means it'll drop to the mid-50's at night, is also my kind of weather.

I miss my friends there, who make a genuine effort to see me, and it's amazing how years later we pick up right where we left off.

I miss my family, their warmth, their laughter, their ability to make me laugh and feel loved.

I am missing home. Home now means Brazil. But home is also wherever the Boy is, so in DC I stay, and hope that in a year or so, we'll both be moving to a new place, to a new home. That place won't be the US or Brazil, but hope is one we can both call home.