Struggling with next column a bit

Man, I am really struggling with this week’s column. Part of it is just struggling t o get back into a routine and groove. Part of it still being out of sorts from jetlag. Part of it the kids just finally went back to school today, giving me a little peace and quiet. Part of it is that just as that happened, my internet connection vanished, leaving me not only disconnected but discombobulated and orced to spend a lot of time delaing with that issue.

And part of it is that it’s a lot easier for me to write for this forum than that one. I wrote all of the above in a couple of minutes, however long it took me to physically type them. When I wrote for the blog, I just type. I think with my fingers. I don’t really have a plan. The idea just takes me where it wants to go and I realize things as I type them. Many of the columns stemmed from thing I originally wrote here and they were a lot easier to write, because I am a pretty ruthless self editor. When I write a column from scratch, exploring the thoughts in that format first,. I can never reach the same level of ease. I tend to agonize over each sentence, each word, each idea.

So, finding myself a little stalled on that front, agonizing over a few hundred words, only phrase at a time, I thought I should let loose a little and share my thoughts with you.

What I’m writing about is how different this year is than last.. how a year ago, w were fresh off the boat, wet behind the ears and overwhelmed and awed by everything and this year everything is normalized.. we are returning home. We have friends.. the kids love school, we have drivers licenses and a car.. we can speak at last a little chinese…

But as thing normalize, I worry if they are getting too normal – do we really want to spend our few years here basing our schedules around soccer games, Sunday schools and birthday parties?

Does that sound like a good column? It better because I’m in too deep and it’s too late to turn back now.