Home…for now

My friend Kathy made a suggestion many years ago, as I sat in tears amid the rubble of our DIY home demo and renovation: clear a spot and place a vase of flowers there. That way, I would always have something grounding and beautiful to look at when everything felt disrupted or in shambles. I have relied on that strategy many times since, including now, in what seems like the umpteenth Airbnb we’ve stayed in over the past two years.

Such is creating a sense of home for the life in transit.

We left Singapore, for the last time, about six weeks ago. I am still processing our departure and what our time in Singapore meant to me. In many ways, the past two years were a gift. In accompanying Tom to Singapore for his work, I had the opportunity to shed my previous identity – specifically, how others viewed me, and how I saw myself. I was able to explore new avenues of personal growth, learning, and creativity.

In previous posts I’ve written about my museum/heritage neighborhood docent work, photography classes, and Asian book club. What I have not written about is something even more personal, and that is the rich faith community we discovered in Singapore.

I did not expect to find a church home in Singapore. People had cautioned that churches tended to follow the socially conservative mores of the country, and that it would be hard, maybe even impossible, to find one with a progressive theology that matched our own.

So it was a surprise and relief when Tom found Free Community Church (“FCC,” where Free stands for “First Realize Everyone’s Equal”). FCC is the only open and affirming church in Singapore, providing a welcoming place for the LGBTQ+ community and others that are excluded and marginalized. Social justice is a defining part of our Lutheran church in Seattle, and important to what we seek in a faith community. 

When I left Seattle two years ago, I was depleted from having served in some big volunteer roles in our church. It was tempting to slip into anonymity in a new community, especially one where we were one of a handful in the minority: straight, middle-aged, and Caucasian. But each week, the presider would begin with the words, “welcome home.” And so began our journey into creating a sense of home, if just for a brief time. So too began a journey of renewal and replenishment for me personally.

It was at FCC that we got a closer look into the struggles that the LGBTQ+ community have long faced (those struggles should ease a bit with the recent announcement of the repeal of law 377a, banning gay sex), the strict penal code and use of the death penalty, and plight of migrant workers’ limited rights and difficult living and working conditions.

As foreigners, we had to be careful about weighing in on these issues. But it certainly gave us a peek behind the shiny veneer portrayed in Crazy Rich Asians, or the easy living that we and many others in our expat community enjoyed.

It was also at FCC that I found nourishment in the weekly sermons, forging friendships in unlikely places, and discovered that community and home can be had no matter where we are in the world.

Just before we left Singapore, Tom and I had the opportunity to reflect on our time at FCC in a conversation with Pastor Miak Siew on Pink Dot (Pride) Sunday. You can watch it here, starting around minute 35.

We now find ourselves back in Seattle, “in transit.” The plan is to stay here through the end of the year, before we embark on another overseas adventure…in Spain! Tom begins a new role with Allyiz, a payments and fraud prevention consulting firm that a colleague started three years ago, that just so happens to be based in Madrid.

Today we head to Europe for a month, part vacation in Italy with friends, and part scouting trip to Madrid. When we return, Tom will begin his new job remotely. Our Seattle “pause” will give us a chance to spend time with family and friends, enjoy the holidays in the Pacific Northwest, and catch our breath before we relocate in January.

Did I think two years ago that we would be considering a move to Spain? No. You never know what opportunity awaits, if you just open your eyes and look. We are lucky indeed.

While I have not been the most diligent blogger this year, I am still deciding what to do with “Our Singapore Blog.” Does it become “Our Spain Blog?” To be announced…

As usual, I leave you with a few photos to browse. Ciao!

With Pastor Miak Siew and Pastor Pauline Ong, FCC

More pics from Travels in Sri Lanka and Malaysia

If you like what you read, subscribe HERE.