Coming home

I’m writing this on the return flight from Singapore to Zurich, which is the only alone time I’ve had in the last 2 weeks; between catching up with friends, attending to administrative matters and overeating, my schedule hasn’t left me much time to ruminate on this visit, my first in 2 years, also my first Chinese new year in Singapore in 3 years. Then it all crystalised last night in a moment of retrospection: Paulo Coehlo’s little shepherd boy left home to seek the treasures of the world, only to come home and find everything he sought at his own doorstep. Mind, I’m no “boy” too, although i still sometimes behave like one. Ok, often.
I missed out so much while I was away: pal’s wedding, his first child, beautiful beautiful little girl she is. Another close friend’s divorce. My folks hair turning grey. Death of an aunt. My socially awkward younger brother’s breakup and subsequent dyeing of hair. The setting fire to a local politician. Catching up afforded glimpses into relationships and memories that I’ve lost touch with, and it was a comforting feeling so familiar, it was as if I hadn’t left at all. How did I get on so long without this sense of belonging? Or did I recognize these feelings only because I’ve been away?
I know I’m not the only one to have left home to see the world, or simply to seek whatever it is that they are looking for. But I wonder, what their stories are, when and how did they know, it was right to stay, or time to go home, or move on elsewhere. And I’ve met many such people and wished them well, that they find whatever it is they are looking for. Or that whatever it is they are looking for finds them.
I caught up with old friends, shared a joke or 2 and a couple of beers, reminisced about old times, caught up on their lives. I miss all this, this history, people i know, and who know me. Perhaps I haven’t been here quite long enough, but Switzerland with its beautiful mountains and lakes isn’t quite home, at least not yet. Perhaps it is time for this shepherd boy from the island without sheep to move on or along.