We got some big news this week. My husband’s curtailment request has been approved. We’ll be moving back to DC next summer, instead of in 2018 as originally scheduled.

The Diplomat needs to go home because his parents have reached the stage at which they need more help. Of course, it’s more specific than that, but really, the details don’t matter. If one is lucky enough to still have parents at middle age—and we have all four, plus my grandmother!—then something is bound to come up eventually. That’s just life, made only slightly more complicated by the Foreign Service.

How do I feel about it? Just fine. I’ve been pretty open that I am ready to settle down. If I hadn’t already been living in central Europe for several years, I might feel a bit cheated out of travel opportunities. But I’ve had my shot at this part of the world and then some.

We have a couple more trips planned over the next year. I’m looking forward to them, but then I am ready to wander around America for a while, I think. And really, western Europe is pretty easy to get to from the east coast. We’ll be back to explore more of that part of the continent in the future.

Warsaw is a good post. It has a fascinating history, great people, a fun expat community, and lots of interesting stuff to do. If you don’t mind a really long winter, then bid on it!

But two years is enough for me. Major factor that I haven’t mentioned: I am terribly allergic here! It’s a combination of the pollens and the pollution that has knocked me for a loop. Maybe it has to do with having Hashimoto’s as well. I have been coughing since last fall, despite two kinds of allergy medication. I’m using a daily inhaler for the first time in my life. I have red eyes and allergic “shiners” nearly all the time.

It just really gets old after a while. I know I have nothing to complain about compared to people who are posted to Delhi or Beijing—but then, I couldn’t even try to live in those places.

So, Warsaw, it’s not you, it’s me. Me and my screwed-up immune system. It wasn’t the reason we curtailed, but it is one reason I am OK with leaving early. No one enjoys being allergic all the time. I need to get away from these birch trees and coal fires and into a house with a HEPA filter, stat.

It’s all good.

Now, back to looking at garden plans and cool kitchens on Pinterest 🙂