Le Tango around the World!

I have always said that I wouldn’t stay in Washington DC too long. For me it was a transition period, something I had to do to live away from my family, from Belgium from what I have been used to do before. I took the job at the World Bank because at the time it was a great opportunity for me. But all along I knew it was only for a short period of time. It actually turned out to be much longer than I had expected. The 2 years I was there for turned into 12… mainly because of my involvement with the Tango community.
but for me it also meant that I never wanted to feel home in DC. I had a cute little appart that served its purpose, but at the same time, it was just a place for me to stay while I was in DC, it has never felt like home, a place I wanted to come back to and that meant a lot to me.
Now that I am in Belgium to visit, I am thinking about it and I am not sure either if it is home for me. I have left here so long ago that many things are not me anymore. I grew up here, I still know the places, my family is here, but same thing… it is not home. I hope that one day, I’ll settle somewhere and feel like that’s my home.
But at the same time being back in Belgium brings a lot of memories. And this time something special happened to me. I met with my first love… and when I said first… it was the fist! I was probably 8 or 9 or something like that. Our families were friends and we used to play a lot together.. when it actually changed into something quite different… even when we were so young. Unfortunately when we were 10 he had to leave and move to a bigger city (where I live is really in the middle of nowhere!:-)… but for some reason, he always stayed in my heart, I was always hoping I’d see him somewhere, that we would meet again and be like nothing had happened. But the years passed, and eventhough we met once in between, our lives changed and I moved to the states, and he has his own life as well. So, because he had to find information on Argentina for his daughter, he found my website (the good and the bad of being so present online! )…. sent me an email and we have been in contact since then. And yesterday we met… again… after (oh… dare I say it )….. about 20 years! It was nice… we remembered the good old time (or something like it), laughed, smiled about our feelings in our childhood and were really happy that we found each other again. jst because the first love is so special, just because even during all those years that we were appart, having our own separate lives, for some reason we still were thinking about each other, just because life is always going to surprise you somehow… this was something I’ll cherish for a very long time.
So, our lives have separated again, but thanks to the email, we’ll keep contact and be more present in each others lives.
So, Belgium is where I grew up, I am not sure it’s my home, but my roots are there, the experiences that made me from early on happened there, and he was definetely a part of it!