BaldBrady’s Blog

Today Jane, my wife, and I will fly to California and points beyond. It will be Jane’s first time in the United States, and essentially my first time back since the fall of 2018. (I did return briefly in 2020 for a medical procedure and barely escaped back to Thailand before the Covid shutdown.)

What will we find?

I lived in the United States for most of my first 59 years, but I no longer call it home. My home, my house, my friends, and most of the people I consider family are now here in Thailand. The country I was once so proud of—when we elected Obama—has changed into something I sometimes barely recognize, at least as far as the news and politics go.

During this visit we will spend time with friends in Southern California and with family in Cleveland and New Hampshire. We’ll also spend about ten days in Sedona and Las Vegas. I plan to do some birding; we’ll do some shopping and a little sightseeing. I long to see the desert again, to watch a ballgame in my hometown, and to taste real Mexican food.

Throughout the trip I suspect I’ll be acutely aware that I am a visitor now, not a resident. I worry about the prices. About driving on the right side of the road again. About stumbling into tense political conversations. About no longer quite belonging.

But more than anything, I’m curious.

How has the culture changed? Are Californians still as friendly as I remember? Are New Yorkers still as brusque? Will Cleveland still feel like my hometown?

I’m sure that while I’m there I’ll wonder what life might have been like if I had stayed, worked a few more years, and retired in the United States. My guess, though, is that before long I’ll start feeling homesick—for Thailand.

And of course, there are two weeks in Costa Rica still to come. Stay tuned!