On Flag Day

… Viva la Mexico!

I don’t think I can escape the Flag Day post. Every Foreign Service blogger has a Flag Day post. I’m writing this almost five months after the fact, which means five months of interrupted sleep with our infant, so my memory may be fuzzy but I’ll give it my best shot. If you’d like to read about the experiences of others at Flag Day, particularly those who are FSO’s and not a spouse like myself, check out this compilation of Flag Day blogs!

Flag Day is a State Department tradition where one by one, each country’s flag from our bid list is projected on a big screen and the name of the FSO that has been chosen for that post is called up. Everyone cheers as the FSO runs to the front of the room to collect his or her mini flag of their designated country, shakes a bunch of hands, and smiles for a picture. Everyone has family flying in from all over the country and the energy in the room is palpable. I fantasized about the high emotions of such a dramatic announcement. Would it be Buenos Aires, Bogota, or Bangkok?!

I don’t know if it was the post-pregnancy hormones, sleep deprivation, or the emotional high I got from doing my hair and makeup for the first time in two months, but our Flag Day felt dramatic to say the least. I sat in the family section with my baby in my arms and my mother at my side, ready to help her check off each post as it got announced. I had color-coded the list so she would know exactly which posts we had ranked high, medium, and low.  I don’t know exactly when Tres got called, but it was early on. Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. They must have made a mistake. It was a border post that was not so long ago the murder capital of the world. I’m pretty sure my heart stopped. While they called the other names I frantically tried to do some internet research on my phone to find something, anything that was positive about this post. We had agreed that we were world-wide ready, but could my cold northern blood handle the heat of a Mexican desert?! My baby was too young to star on an episode of Breaking Bad or Narcos!

A better diplomat’s wife would be more… diplomatic. But I am nothing if not honest with myself and others. It took me several days (weeks?) of researching, talking through options, and holding back tears as I rocked my newborn to sleep to feel good about moving to Ciudad Juarez. We dreamed of something more exotic, something that felt safer for our baby. After reading lots of blogs from others who were posted there, chatting with other Foreign Service families, and learning about all that Ciudad Juarez has to offer, I can sincerely say that we are excited to move there. We hear that the sense of community at the consulate is among the best, the locals are warm, the cost of living is low, and there’s even a fantastic children’s museum. We get monthly newsletters from the consulate and any place with a cycling club, a running club, and tennis lessons is a place I will enjoy. Ciudad Juarez is working hard to turn itself around – we love nothing more than rooting for the underdog- and the violence is lower than several US cities that I wouldn’t think twice about visiting. Did I mention that it claims to be the home of the first burrito?! Finally, I am beyond excited to improve my spanish skills that need a lot of work after living in New England for so long, and I can only hope that Osito gets a good start on becoming bilingual.

 

 

 

On being a new Mom in DC

… this city will bring me to tears for the rest of my life!

As we get ready to pack up for our first post in Mexico, I’m getting sentimental about leaving Arlington. And so begins what will probably be a continuing theme in this blog as I emotionally reflect on what it means to me to be a mother.

We moved here from Massachusetts when Osito was 7.5 weeks old. While Tres was busy getting acclimated to daily life at the Foreign Service Institute, I was trying to keep our tiny person alive in a new environment. I instinctually leaned on the supports that already existed for me, my mommy friends living in the area. From there my circle grew to include their favorite spots like the local breastfeeding support group, mommy and me yoga classes, and the Women’s Lounge at every Nordstrom. I eventually ventured out on my own to places that work for Osito and me- story time at the Central Library as often as we can make it, wandering the Target on Arlington Boulevard, and as many museums and monuments as we could possibly fit in.

As excited as I am to begin life at our new post, I will relish every visit to DC where I can reminisce back on the roller coaster of being a new mother. I hope when we come back that I am flooded with memories of this very poignant time in my life. With any luck, a visit to Lubber Run Park will help me remember our quiet evenings when he would nap on me in the carrier, his velvet head close enough to kiss. I hope the burn in my legs as I climb the Lincoln Memorial will remind me what it was like to carry him up those steps. When we have lunch at the Foreign Service Institute I’ll pull out a picture of him sleeping in my husband’s arms in the cafeteria, and I will remind him when he is older that the last time he visited a particular Smithsonian museum he slept most of the time and needed a diaper change in the lobby. I’ll brag at Arlington Cemetery that he visited the site six times before he was five months old. Washington, DC has been a city of firsts for my baby – his first jog in the jogging stroller around the Tidal Basin, his first Halloween on the streets of Georgetown, his first babysitter when we went to see Bob Dylan at The Anthem, his first hike at Rock Creek Park.

Many thanks to this most amazing city where I found myself as a new mother. I am excited to continue with more firsts (first steps, first words, first birthday… first burrito!) at our first post in Mexico, but I will always be excited to come back and remember this incredibly special time.