Finding Home in a Land of Constant Distraction

And there's a roller coaster inside this mall too!

I’ve posted pictures of the city skyline and the beaches just minutes from our apartment. What I haven’t written about is how much there is to do on any given weekend. It’s hard to convey just how much is going on in this city on any given day. This is a city that is serious about establishing itself as a world class destination. It’s like we’re faced with a constant barrage of once in a life time opportunities. It’s hard not to feel a little guilt for just wanting to sit at home on the weekend and watch a DVD or read a book.

A few weeks ago Julie and the kids attended a performance by yet another visiting world class orchestra. Liam was having some difficulty making up his mind as to whether or not he was going to go. For as much as I believe in the principle of free agency, as soon as he expressed his indifference, I promptly took the choice away from him. I believe the words I used were, “I don’t care whether you want to go or not. You are going to have this once in a lifetime experience. I don’t want to have to deal with the consequences of your regret.” In the end he was extremely grateful to have gone. And I only felt mind regret over the guilt trip I laid down on him.

Just last week, Eric Clapton was in town to play, Tony Hawk was also here along with some other famous X-athletes to put on an exhibition. We chose to visit a ship that was traveling around the world as an ambassador for literacy and other, less explicit messages. It basically functioned as a floating bookstore, and in the end, I would have preferred to see Tony Hawk, but hindsight’s always 20/20.

The problem with chasing down all of these opportunities is that it’s easy to lose the experience of actually being in a place. Even people who have been here for more than a decade don’t refer to Abu Dhabi as home. Home is always some other place. I’ve always tied to live with the philosophy that home is wherever my wife and kids were (and yes, I believed this before I saw the youtube video of the cute kid and here dad singing the song by The Magnetic Zeros). It’s hard not struggle with the feeling of being on a perpetual vacation that’s interrupted occasionally by work and utility bills, but we’re looking for more than the distractions vacation. We want to create real relationships. We want to learn about the cultures the surround us in more than superficial ways. We’re looking to create experiences that will change our lives. And an Eric Clapton concert, for as much fun as that would be, can only change a person’s life so much.

So few pictures of me.

She only fell down twice this time.