Four Years Has Passed, Where Have I Been?
It is wild to think that I haven’t done one of these yearly round-ups for over 4 years. This coincides with one thing and one thing only (even if I don’t want to admit it): kids. The last update I gave was at the end of 2020, announcing the birth of my beautiful daughter. Fast forward 4 years and I now have two kids and live in another country. We welcomed our amazing son, Arawin, into the mix completing our family in the fall of 2023.
So before I get too ahead of myself, let me catch you up on what went down the past four years:
Last you saw, we had our daughter at the end of the craziest year of our life, the year of the pandemic. While many struggled, that year turned out to be exactly what we needed. I found out I was pregnant in April 2020, the peak of C*vid and gave birth in December. I laid low, I took it easy, I thrived. I enjoyed the quiet life without travel (for once) and had time to soak in our last moments as a family of two...well, three. Because a few weeks into C*vid, we adopted our first born, Havana. The best girl ever. We took walks, we enjoyed the fresh air, and I reveled in exercise.
Of course, the year didn’t come without heartbreak. My family missed the entire pregnancy, the birth, and the entire first year of my daughter’s life. Luckily, by the end of 2021, we were able to travel to Thailand once all borders opened up and got to spend much needed time with family.
For most of 2021 and 2022, I spent it embracing my new role as a mother. Understanding how to love someone so selflessly and at the same time ensuring that my entire world and personality wasn’t only about being a mom but still a wife, a workhorse, and a friend. Our love for travel continued forward with experiencing new cultures with our daughter. We learned to pack up as a family of three in suitcases and traveled to Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Greece, and Costa Rica. At six months, Amiya took her first flight and learned how to swim in Puerto Rico. Amiya got to walk down an aisle as a flower girl to my best friend’s wedding in Tinos, Greece. We saw gibbons, and toucans in Costa Rica. We saw some of the clearest water, ever, on Cabbage Beach, Bahamas. We lived.
After two and a half years, we were thrilled to find out that a new member would be joining the family. Contrary to the first pregnancy, we were able to tell our parents in person. On the way to Thailand to surprise them, we traveled to Turkey just in time to find out we were having a baby boy on our last date night in Istanbul at a Michelin guide restaurant, Murver. I’ll never forget that feeling of pure excitement and joy.
2023 was all about enjoying the last pregnancy and experiencing it without a pandemic. I traveled for work, we saw lots of family, and we got to do a full-on babymoon to Turks and Caicos (just the two of us - well three, with baby bro in the belly). While at the same time, D and I had decided to follow through on our plans to leave Washington DC in 2024. With that in mind, the balls were rolling to prepare our lives for that goal. We started to rid ourselves of all the junk, accumulated from 12 years of our lives, and sold away most of our possessions. We got our house ready for the market and prepared ourselves to sell our beautiful home. And we absorbed all we could from the place we called home for over a decade. We still managed to welcome our son in-time in our home and had his first six months of life there.
Come 2024, we managed to sell our home premarket (we could hardly believe it!) and moved into an Airbnb in Eckington awaiting our big journey in June. We had packed our entire lives up into six boxes and 7 suitcases, ready to move across the world to Thailand. It should be noted that this feat can’t be brought up lightly, as D and I had this in our minds since 2012. And to say that 12 years later, we did it, is an understatement. We worked our butts off, took care of each other, and grew our family to make this vision a reality. I have to say, this is one of the biggest things we have done together. And here we are, January of 2025, we have been residents of Thailand for over six months. And soon to be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary. Pats on our backs!
Life in Thailand has been a huge but welcome shift. Having help that we never knew existed has been a dream. Focusing our energies on the good parts of parenthood, on each other, and on family has been something to cherish. We are still learning how to navigate this world, new friendships, new climates, and new activities—but we are very much excited to keep exploring.
I don’t often say I am blessed, but I know that I am after looking back on the last four years. I have to say, I am so so lucky. So lucky to have this life. I am also so proud of what we’ve been able to do and how we got here. I have grown up in so many ways and have learned many lessons along the way—in life, in love, and especially in motherhood. To not taking life for granted, and to embracing all the change, the challenges, and the fun. To 2025!