It started in September of 2016. I was travelling home for my brother’s wedding and I was so excited. I wasn’t just excited for the wedding, or to see my family: things had not been going very well for me in Texas and was looking forward to the break. After the wedding on October 1st, I started experiencing “Sunday Night Blues” about going back. I was so tempted to accidentally miss my flight, but my brother wouldn’t let me.
Fast forward to December 2016, I went to a friend’s Christmas Dinner and we played a game where we had to pick random questions from a jar and answer them honestly. I happened to pick the question, “What is your goal for 2017.” Now, I had had the idea of moving back home in my head for a while by this time. I had even made jokes with some friends on our way to the party about how I could just pick up and leave whenever. So, without thinking very much about it, I said that my 2017 goal was to move back to Kenya. I had played with the idea in my head for a while but saying it out loud and giving a timeline was the boost I needed to start asking myself the tough questions about why I wanted to leave and make the necessary arrangements.
Based on budget and logistics, I set my move date for February 2018. I had several short-term goals that needed to be accomplished by the beginning of 2018 and long-term goals of what things I hope to accomplish over the next 3-5 years. I have never been one to make serious plans and set goals like that (I honestly don’t know how I’ve made it this far in life) but because of that, 2017 ended up being one of the most productive and accomplished years of my life.
As soon as I had a time-frame in mind, I started monitoring flights to make sure I got the best deal possible. In November I found a ridiculously cheap flight for January 30th and I booked my one-way ticket! Thankfully I didn’t change my mind, and there was no flight cancellation, so I landed in Nairobi on Thursday, February 1, 2018. I have officially been home for 30 days and I am happy to say that I definitely made the right decision moving back. I’ve spent my first month settling in and bonding with my family and I am now ready to start executing some of those plans I made.
I will be sharing a lot more about my reasons for coming home on this blog and will be talking about some of the challenges. One of my main goals is to write more and make this blog more regular; I’ll put up new posts once or twice a week. Consider following the blog and checking out my social media pages for updates on when I post something new. I hope you will enjoy, and be edified by, the things I share.
Feel free to leave a comment letting me know your take on moving back home from the diaspora. If you’re someone living abroad, have you considered moving back home? What are some of the things that would make you take the leap (or not)?
Heaven Bound 
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