Cue Reality

I got my first water bill.

Why does water cost anything!? And, who in my house is using up all the water? Could it be the three female children who feel like a proper shower has to be THIRTY MINUTES LONG?

"SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! No, seriously. And stop opening the patio door so the cat can sniff the outdoors. She won't go out, stop letting her sniff. We haven't had to pay for heat in a few years. Don't waste it now." I'm half tempted to tell the kids to leave the microwave open after they use it so we can absorb that extra little bit of warmth. Or maybe heat from the lightbulbs...no that leads to..

"TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!" After living in a place where you get cloudy daylight for six hours in the winter, I always justified the light usage. Now. Not so much. The bright Virginia sunlight streams into our rooms every morning. Open the shades, for heaven sakes!

If you are fortunate enough to picture Number Four in your mind, imagine her frizzy side ponytail, teeny-tiny glasses, one hand on her hip, and a pointer finger sweeping across a wooden piece of furniture collecting a nest of dust. Her reaction; "Ummmmm, when is somebody going to come to clean this up?"

She wasn't joking! During our time in Moscow, we had a once-a-week housekeeper who mopped floors, dusted, vacuumed, and cleaned our five bedrooms and four bathrooms. We've majorly downsized so I'm pretty confident that my small tribe and I can handle the task. I had no idea my pampered little darlings had become so disillusioned about the responsibility of house cleaning. Seriously, that's an integral part of homeschool life skills training.

When you live overseas, it is socially acceptable (and encouraged) to have domestic help. My once-a-week help was minimal by most standards, but the peace of mind she offered to me was invaluable. Plus, we grew to love our Natalia and her funny Russian ways.

I know that later this month I will get electric bills, natural gas bills (at least it's not propane!), internet, and phone bills. Uncle Sam, (and Mom and Dad) I would like to thank you for the years of free utilities. Lesson learned.

Keeping up with the Joneses

I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings so I will try to tread lightly. I'm not sure I'm good at being an American mother. Most of my concerns in Moscow revolved around the proper feeding, dressing, and educating of my four offspring. Suddenly I am laying awake at night worrying about which organized activity is best, whether my kids will make quality friends, and how in the world I can educate them on pop culture.

Realization: I am a homeschooler who has lived overseas for the last 3.5 years. No matter how I do it, my methods will never be the same as my friends whose kids are in a formal institution and have lived here their whole lives. My kids know world geography better than most adults I come across, but they don't understand jokes about Justin Bieber. In my short, five weeks in this wonderful town, I have managed to enroll Number 1 in gymnastics and youth group, Number 2 in baseball, bought three hamsters (or four?) joined a local aquatic center, and started attending Bible study. I think we're doing pretty well, but something nags at me that it's not enough.

When I've tried to get acquainted with other moms (homeschoolers included) I feel overwhelmed by their droning about who has to be where and when. In the evenings our family likes to watch Jeopardy (finally on at an appropriate time), read good books aloud, and play games. I like riding the bus and the metro. Though I drive a mini-van, I don't want to live in it. That's why we pay through the nose for a cozy apartment.

Consider this my deep breath.

Right now, I've still got to find us a mechanic, a doctor, a dentist, and stop using the GPS to get to church. I have to figure out the new budget and figure out how to cook when I'm running errands every day just to make our house complete. I'm also trying to get four people through 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 6th grade without too much trauma.

It's not them. It's me. I like us. I like our dynamics. It just feels different and scary.

Starting Over

In moving back to America, we didn't just settle back in our old hometown to people and places we knew. We moved to Washington DC where everything is unfamiliar and exciting. I didn't realize just how exciting until I took my kids to the grocery store. We walked to get there, because that's what we like to do, and arrived at a food wonderland with only four cars parked outside. In every aisle, the kids were exclaiming, "Look at this!" or "OOOOOoooo, they have those!" We indulged in things like sweet strawberries, packets of oatmeal, and a gallon jug of chocolate milk for only $4.59. That afternoon, we hopped in the car to discover the local library. My younger ones don't remember the library at all and again I was met with faces saying, "Really? We can take these books home?" One mistakenly cut out a template page in the back of a craft book because she thought all books that enter our home are "ours".

Before we left for Moscow, instead of storing anything, we sold all of our furniture and vehicles. After our current arrival back in the US, we bought a ten-year-old vehicle and our kids think it's the coolest thing ever! Honestly, compared to the 1993 Astro van we drove in Moscow, it's definitely an improvement. Last night we took the city bus to the mall. We were all amazed how much it didn't smell. Yay for public transit.

Now the downside. We have been sleeping on air mattresses. There wasn't a dinner table, chairs, or couches when we moved in. I didn't have to live this way when we went overseas because government housing provides all of your furniture. Don't misunderstand, I don't really want Drexel Heritage French Colonial right now, but a couch would be nice. This led to dumpster diving. We found two amazing patio chairs and an ottoman outside the trash chute at our apartment. The kids quickly grabbed rags and we took turns sitting in the reclining lawn seats in the living room. I feel 19 again. A few weeks and several Craigslist negotiations later, we have some beds and some chairs. It's not complete but we're getting there.

Another funny thing about America. Each store has a discount card that fits on your keyring. I'm actually enjoying getting one at every store. It's good practice to remember my address and feel like I'm part of this locale. So far I've collected one at the supermarket, one at the auto store, and one from the library. I wonder where I'll get one next.