A home far from home

One year in Belgium.

Dear friends,

As of this month, it has officially been a year since Jose and I moved from Uruguay to Belgium and began calling Antwerp our new home. 

“Home is a Softball Field” was the last illustrated essay I created while we were still living in Montevideo, and before I republished it this week, I took a moment to read back through the story. 

I’d forgotten how many details about Uruguayan culture I had included in it, and it made me smile to read them again — about the kids playing fútbol in the park; the families having asados; and the friends sharing rounds of yerba mate, the country’s ubiquitous bitter tea that’s often enjoyed communally.

Then I got to the end of the story and read this section again:

As I read that last line — about home being “something we have to intentionally create” — I began thinking of the ways that Jose and I have tried to create a sense of home here in Belgium.

And I especially thought of how we’ve tried to bring a bit of Uruguay with us, just as the softball players in the story brought their national sport with them.