After a long tiring drive I arrived
in McKinney early Friday evening. Except for a week in June between arriving
home from two months in China and my trip to Batavia, New York I have not been
here in McKinney since the first of April. On September 26 I leave for two
months in China. This year I will live for four months in China, about four
months in Batavia and just a little over four months in McKinney. It was almost
the same last year. It is an interesting life living with three different
families for an equal amount of time each year, especially when one of them is
in a different culture.
At each location I have my room.
When I leave China I leave behind many of my personal things. I also leave
behind people that have become like members of my family. Many call me Grandpa
and some dad. At times one refers to me as daddy. When I go to China I feel
like I am going home to an adopted family there. They are people I will be
close to the rest of my life. I have had a relationship with some for seven
years and have watched their lives change and wrestled with some of their
problems with them.
I have a room in Batavia also, but I
have much more. There I live on the farm I grew up on with my own family. I
really felt at home there this summer working and having daily conversations
with family members. In China the common title for me is Grandpa Steve. In
Batavia it is Uncle Steve. I wanted to stay and finish the project but I had a
ticket to China and I needed to leave. It is really tempting to come back and
spend the winter there.
In addition to having a room in
McKinney, I have a house here, but over the years something has changed that
makes it more difficult to return here. One of those changes was when Jiajing
left to live someplace else. Under the circumstances it was the right thing to
do. She was my connection to China and to her family. Because of her I have a family
to live with in China. She was also the first to believe and that was special.
To me she is a special person and when she left the house suddenly became very
empty. I want to thank her for helping me get a plane ticket from Shanghai to
Wuhan yesterday afternoon while she waited for customers to come into the restaurant
for supper.
I have so much to do to get
ready for China so I had better run along for now.
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