Loyalty

This is my highly-valued address book. It goes around the world with me in my suitcase when I travel and despite the digital age in which we live, it is still my favourite place for keeping up-to-date information on where my family and friends are living, their phone numbers and information on any new additions to their families! I am so attached to my address book. It is a special record of the special people in my life. It somehow seems much more friendly than a cold, hard computer screen or smart phone!

Although I keep this address book near to hand, some of my friends have a harder time keeping in touch with us. As we live overseas and often move house, friends have jokingly complained about the mess I make of their address books, as they frequently need to update their information on our whereabouts! Since I left home at 18 years old to attend university at Nottingham, my address has been constantly changing. In those years since my student days, I have had over 18 home addresses spanning across 5 different countries.

Our current home in Dodoma, Tanzania is the place where I have lived for the longest period of time in all these years. In November, we will have lived in our Dodoma house for 4 years- a record amount of time in one place for me! Prior to this, the second longest time in one home was for 2 and a half years in Port Alfred in South Africa. Now we are starting preparations to leave Dodoma and move on, in January, to pastures new in yet another house, in yet another country.

This prospect is both exciting and terrifying! As the preparations begin, so do the emotional highs and lows. The thought of what we will be leaving behind fills me with sadness. Sometimes sleep eludes me as I am filled with a sad sense of who and what we will have to say goodbye to. Tissues need to be kept close at hand when these unhappy thoughts crowd into my mind. On the other hand, the busyness of getting ready for something novel and different gives us something to anticipate and look forward to.

One of the comforting factors in all this change is knowing that we have friends, who despite our almost "gypsy" lifestyle, keep in touch and kindly update their address pages and email addresses so that we can stay in contact! The loyalty of friends across the world who keep in touch is a huge bonus for which I am very thankful in our life with MAF overseas!