Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Another 2-body problem solved

A friend of mine from a different phase of my life recently told me that she got transferred in her job, to one that is within an easy commute (against traffic) from the house in the city her husband and daughter live in.

She used to work in the village she grew up in, which is a 5-6 hour commute from the rest of her family. She'd travel home on the weekends, and sometimes she'd get so homesick in the middle of the week that she'd catch a bus-->ferry-->bus-->train at 4-5 in the evening to get home around 10 pm, only to leave the house the next morning at 5. Her stamina amazes me.

For a while, her daughter lived with her near her work, and her husband would travel.  My friend's mother would help out with child care, but the room she rented did not have access to a bathroom, which made life more than a little difficult with a toddler.

I'm not writing this to play a "look how hard life is in poor rural villages in a God, or at least investment, forsaken poor country" card. However, since she is such a close friend of mine, the contrast between our situations has provided me with some context to how lucky I am in spite of everything.

Now they are all together, and her new job starts this week, and I am very happy for them all.

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