There really is no place like home. While I get to call Hong Kong my home now, New Jersey will always be my forever home. The last time I was in New Jersey was last spring, when little bean was around 6 months old and got to meet my family for the first time. It was a short trip, just under a week, and little bean was very young. This time, we visited for almost two weeks and got to visit during one of my favorite times of the year – summer. Summer and autumn in New Jersey are my favorite seasons. Looking back, the only time I experienced summers in New Jersey was when I was still attending school, so I have a lot of fond summer memories in my home state.
I remember feeling the warmth of the sun in the mornings, the way my backyard would be lit by the summer sun, and jumping into my pool and swimming for hours. I remember the nervousness and excitement that I would feel as I’d see dark storm clouds start to roll in from the west for an evening of strong thunderstorms. I remember the smell of my parents cooking on the grill on our back deck and my dad making my favorite virgin strawberry daiquiris. I remember ladybugs crawling on my legs and feet, and I remember the fireflies lighting up in the summer air like mini fireworks. I wanted little bean to get a glimpse of all these memories this year.
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Darkpark shirt (less expensive here) // Agolde tank (similar here) // Abrand shorts // Illesteva Sunglasses
I flew solo with little bean from Hong Kong to New York, which was not an easy task but little bean is a very experienced traveler which helped make the journey less overwhelming than I worried it would be. I flew over solo with her because the beau could only get just a few days off from work, and I knew I wanted to spend a good chunk of time with my family so I was prepared to do a majority of the visit on my own. I was so excited to show off my daughter to my family. They only get to see her via Facetime and some videos I send here and there, so this was their chance to really spend time with her. I really wanted my three grandparents to enjoy their time with her too, making them the priority of this visit.
New Jersey has changed so much since I last lived there over 15 years ago, and yet somehow it is still the same. My hometown feels like home and as a stranger to me. Time has certainly passed and it shows, but not in the way you think. A lot was being built in my hometown around the time I left, and now those little trees that were planted are now big, gorgeous trees. It changes the way a place looks, so while it may be different for me, it is still lovely and beautiful. But there’s also a sad feeling because while I always hoped I would one day travel the world and get to call other places home, a part of me always felt like New Jersey would always be my primary home.That ended up not being the case, and so even seeing the growth of these trees was a reminder that a long time has passed that I was not a part of.
But getting to show off my hometown to little bean a second time before she turns 2 meant everything to me. Will she remember this trip? Probably not, although I remember little tiny memories from my first trip to Disney World when I was 18 months old, so I am treating every trip with little bean as if she will remember it forever. Which is why spending time with my grandparents was extremely important to me. Of course, getting to see all my family members was important to me since I no longer live just down the road from any of them (instead of living just 15 minutes away, I now live 15 hours away by airplane), but watching my grandparents spend quality time with their great-granddaughter, who adored ALL of them so much, made me feel warm and cozy inside.
The icing on the cake was when the beau finally got to join us. Having my whole family and my own little family together made everything feel just right. I saw my aunt and cousins laughing and playing with little bean, and little bean chasing after one of my cousins that she instantly connected with. I saw the beau laughing with my dad and uncles, happily enjoying some Jersey pizza and my nana’s homemade Italian meatballs. This isn’t something that gets to happen every weekend for us, or even every month. It’s not easy living 8000 miles away from everyone who shares blood with you. We only get to enjoy this once a year, so having everyone together as one big family was the medicine my heart needed.
After a big weekend of family gatherings – a large Italian gathering on Saturday and an intimate Danish gathering on Sunday – and a lot of food that my stomach and tastebuds dearly missed, I brought both the beau and little bean down the shore for the very first time. Neither one had ever been to the Jersey shore before, so I was very eager to bring them both. Mostly I was eager for little bean to get to dip her little toes in the Atlantic Ocean, since she gets to dip her toes in the Pacific Ocean all the time. Having her toes dip in the Atlantic was a sweet memory of my little jet-setter getting to do what her mom used to do all the time when she was a little girl. The best part was at the end of our beach day, a ladybug landed on me and the beau so we got to show one to little bean up close since she loves ladybugs. It was a full circle moment for me having my husband and my daughter on the beach that I grew up on.
I’m already looking forward to bringing little bean back to New Jersey next year. I think next year we will need to tackle autumn so little bean gets to experience a New Jersey autumn.
