And Now We Say Good-bye

This has been the strangest paced year of my life. There were certainly times over the past ten months since we welcomed Yoran into our home that the time would never end -- akin to being a child and summer vacation seems to float languidly in front of you, only in reverse since we started at the end of summer.

Fast forward through swim and tennis seasons, a trip to Valhalla, NY to meet other exchange students, and the cultural festival and suddenly his mom, dad, and brother were arriving in New Jersey to spend two days seeing his life.

How did that happen? One moment it was Easter, then Ashley came home from college, then they both celebrated birthdays, we had going away party #1 with friends, followed by going away party #2 with his parents.

We loved the visit with his family. After meeting them, and spending two days with them, I feel every exchange family should have a chance to meet the home family (not sure how to phrase that, but you know what I mean). They were most gracious and appreciative about how we made his year possible. They were concerned about sending their son to the USA in light of the gun violence issues -- rightfully so since in the first week of school a student was caught bringing a gun to the high school. Deep breaths. They put a lot of faith in us complete strangers.

They loved our house -- felt it, and our neighborhood, was a typical American home. Been so long since we've had people over for the first time it was nice to see our house in a different light. 

For his last couple of days the family saw the high school (could not wander the halls -- but we did see the front lobby and the pool), including the football field and tennis courts. They walked around the park -- marveling at the wild life I take for granted, and went to the local Starbucks -- where he hung out on Sunday afternoons. We took two trips into Princeton to taste test Thomas Sweet vs. the bent spoon. The time together was too brief.

I felt completely at ease with them and wished they lived closer so we could spend more time together. Conversations were easy and plentiful. I think Yoran and his brother, Ilyas, convinced Ashley to fly from Florence, Italy to Belgium next year so they can show her around. His dad, Kerim, asked me to send the addresses where I lived so he could drive Ashley around and show her where I lived when I was an exchange student.

Tonight we are empty nesters as Ashley is staying over a friend's house. We've started transforming the "back bedroom" from Yoran's room to my office. I am looking forward to moving my laptop from the couch into an office and having a space of my own again. That, and playing taxi, were the hardest parts of hosting. He was a dream -- laid back, near-perfect English, no mood swings, no blatantly breaking of rules (bending... testing...). It was a great year, but I'm still looking forward to this next chapter.