Holiday Cheer and Tea

While we fight to be present, it is sometimes required to volunteer for things you undoubtedly love, such as being with friends while enjoying tea. With a bit more hesitancy than typical of herself in such occasions, Melissa opted to host a table at a Women's Tea this past December and was reminded of her love for hosting, drinking tea and enjoying fellowship.

Feeling sentimental, and particularly family-oriented, Melissa set up her table with particular attention to items which would represent the history of her family and the family to which she is joined while also speaking tribute to the lovely family members who continue to enjoy and to the dear souls we've mourned and said good-bye to throughout the years. So Melissa served from the Blue Willow China which is that of Grandma Cushing's, set the table with Grandma Carolyn's wooden bowl filled with rocks polished by Grandpa Al, a pocket watch from Grandpa Jack, a wooden bird from Grandma Barb and it came together simply and beautifully and further reminded Melissa why it's good to be home.

The Moments you Need when Your Heart Beats in Two Places

As the Harringtons have settled into Laramie/Wyoming/American life, they have been blessed to re-enter life and relationships with all the fantastic people they left behind in 2010. However, each day has also reminded the couple just how deeply they were incorporated into Korean life and community and how that place of their hearts and souls is adjusting and aching and wanting to be as full as it was just a few short months ago.

Fortunately, the inconvenience of miles and time-zones has only stifled the frequency of interactions and reminders of Korea and the Harrington's Korea family. Smart phones have brought the Harringtons numerous reminders of faces and places the couple loves. These reminders are a sure fire way to bring a smile to the faces of the Harringtons if not a few tears to their eyes.

Not only do beautiful reminders of life 'over-there' show up via Kakao Talk, but they were ready and waiting for the Harringtons here in Laramie as well. A handful of Korean middle school students, a Korean-Japanese restaurant ran by a sweet Korean family who understands our love of their foods and traditions, gifts of choco-pie from parents of Korean students and a Korean grocer a few hours away are enough to bring ease to the Harrington's hearts.

These are the ways the Harringtons remember and remain connected. The way they honor where they have been and who they've shared life with. The way the thrive in a land that feels more foreign than it ever was and than it has any right to. The way they move confidently forward, aware that forever and for-always their hearts will beat in two places.

How to Leave a Place You Love: Favorite People, Places and Things

This post is the post that will forever and always be a place where the Harringtons come to fill their hearts both swell and break simultaneously. This post is simply a place to record the 'lasts' - the last weeks, the last coffee dates, the last dinners, the last game nights. But within these moments, these memories of 'lasts' is engraved the depth and value of numerous friendships that were formed, that were/are/will be crucial and valuable for years to come and the ever resounding truth that from now and forever more:

Our Hearts Beat in Two Places.

So how exactly do you leave the place you love? How do you balance packing and preparing with being and enjoying?

If you're the Harringtons, you choose people. Always. And you trust and know that everything will fall into place.

The Problem with Distance

...is that life keeps moving forward on both sides of the globe.  Not only does life move forward, but life (or lives) also end.  Unfortunately, this isn't a new phenomena for the Harrington's.  They've said their fair share of 'good-byes' from 6,000 miles away in the 15 months they've lived in South Korea. They've shed their tears, grieved and mourned, yearned for home, questioned the choice to remain at this distance and wished they weren't forced to carry on as if nothing happened so quickly after such significant loses.

The day after Thanksgiving (Korea time), the Harrington's took in the news of perhaps the most tragic of all the loses they've suffered while living abroad.  Thanksgiving morning, a young, lively, opinionated but kind-hearted, would-do-anything-for-anybody gentleman passed from this life to the afterlife.  The boyfriend of Melissa's dearest sister, an eager host and companion during the Harrington's arrival in Denver, trip to Cheyenne, shenanigans in South Dakota and return to Denver during thier August 2011 trip, Ryan left an admirable and favorable image, one greater than he may ever know.

Hearts are breaking, attempting to heal, mourning and grieving in Denver, Colorado. Hearts are breaking throughout the United States and on the otherside of the globe in ways that are unexplainable.

If you have prayers or positive thoughts to share, send them toward the multitude of friends and family who loved and continue to love Ryan, and please, add an extra dose for Melissa's dear sister because that's what Melissa needs from her community.

Celebrating a Life in Clear Blue Skies

About a month ago, the Harrington's received news that a beloved man, Mike's grandfather, had passed away. Mike Harrington made the heartfelt decision to return to Wyoming for the funeral services and spend a couple of days with his loved ones. He spent his time being loved on by family and friends, celebrating an honorable life and capturing pieces of the people and land that the couple so affectionately call home.

Ladies and gentleman, enjoy a quick glimpse of a few faces and places the Harrington's love and miss and are counting down days until their next visit (which, at the time of posting is 41 days!!!)

It's not all Adventures and Cute Children:Yearning for Home

This isn't so much a post on homesickness. This isn't so much a post that fits the usual beat of The Harrington Times. However, if the Harrington's are about 'anything' - it's about being real. Being real in the way they pursue adventure as much as they pursue community and friendships. Being real in the way they choose where to live, what to do and how to do it. Typically, that realness is accompanied by the main 'editors' propensity to look 'on the bright side' which offers posts highlighting fun (and, if we're honest, food).

However, recent events call forth a need to be real about pain. Real about the sacrifice and hardship that can come with living abroad. Because there are sacrifices being made. Dreams pursued and sacrifices made, they coincide.

For the Harrington's and countless others who choose to live abroad one major sacrifice is creating a deep (and expensive) distance between family and friends. On June 27th the Harrington's said some tear-filled good-byes to mothers, fathers, sisters, and friends who are so close they might as well be twins.

Since arriving in South Korea on August 18th, the Harrington's began saying 'long-distance' good-byes to family members whose lives have been given to eternal rest. While in flight, Melissa's grandfather passed away surely singing praises to his Lord and Savior. Hardly a month ago the Harrington's each sat at their respective work desks mourning, the loss of Mike's uncle and godfather who expressed a good and pure heart throughout so many years of his life. And even more recently, the Harrington's sat on their couch and received such unwelcome news once again. On Sunday evening, a man who leaves a legacy of financial responsibility and anonymous giving wrapped with his spit-fire wit and entertaining tales, Mike's grandfather, also bid farewell to this world.

This is the part of living 5,000 miles from home that hurts. The part that tugs a little harder on your heart strings and begs that you confirm your purpose in living abroad. Is it money and job experience? Is it a life-long dream? Is it simply where your 6th senses tell you to be? For the Harrington's, there is no single or simple answer. However, they will stay. They will re-sign and they will continue on in Korea for another year or more if that is where they feel lead.

Mike has tickets to go home. He will be there, to lay at least one of the men he so admired to rest, to be comforted by his family and to comfort his family. Melissa will anxiously await his return on Tuesday evening.