Zach Bryan ft. Bon Iver

We went to the beach yesterday.

We were headed to Kite Beach, and after getting absolutely absorbed by the sky, dropped off a few bus stops earlier because it was too breathtaking to be spent looking from inside a bus.

It didn’t take long to get to the beach, but we ended up taking our time as we walked in awe looking at the sky —Dubai had never produced such beautiful skies before.

We rued that as soon as we arrived at the beach though, because the view there was even more mesmerizing.

It was at this moment that my husband and I felt we were truly abroad. For the first time, I was glad. Glad that we were here.

A handful of people had already pointed it out to me. How my dreams were finally being fulfilled. Living abroad.

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In 2007, an 8 year old me wrote in my diary, “I’m moving to Oman! Where is that even?”

Then in 2011, 5 years since that diary entry, I wrote in my blogpost, “I’m moving back to Indonesia.”

Since then, I’ve made it a mission to live abroad again. I managed to do it for 2 years in the Netherlands, back when I was finishing my degree, but for some reason I missed Indonesia. So I ended up moving back.

3 years went by and I didn’t find what I was longing for. To be fair, nostalgia was what moved me. That feeling of everyone I loved being in the same place at the same time, casually living our days in wishful thinking without much worry.

Regrettably, most of the people I loved had moved on with their lives.

Somewhere along the way I learned that some people and some feelings are only meant to be lived in a certain moment. It cannot be lived another time.

So again, I moved.