Tag:

Kristin Duncombe

Yesterday’s Gone; Tomorrow Will Be Here

by Kristin Duncombe March 9, 2023

Now I know I can’t lose

As long as you follow

I’m going to win

I’m going to beg, steal, or borrow

As long as you follow
Fleetwood Mac

Since Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie died on November 30, I’ve been listening to “As Long As You Follow” on repeat, often with tears, but sometimes with laughter, remembering how I once joked that it was the perfect song for the career expat.

“You can sing this to me at our wedding!” I chirped at my then-fiancé, when we were discussing plans for our married life.

We didn’t know where we were going, or when. All we knew was that at any moment, a call would come from his employer and we’d have a week to wrap up our lives. We said our “I do’s” in New Orleans, and next thing I knew we were on a flight to Nairobi, where he had a role that would fulfill him for the next two years, and I… well, I had myself to contend with.

Following to a fault

Though he never sang McVie’s words to me, I followed my husband: from Nairobi to Kampala to Paris to Lyon and finally, eight years ago, to Geneva.

Book Club Expat Experiences

Summer Reading for Happy Trails

by Nicole Neroulias Gupte June 28, 2021

written by Nicole Neroulias Gupte

All it took was Year 2 of a global pandemic, combined with a great deal on Amazon Prime Day, for me to finally break down and purchase a Kindle e-reader. (I may have been the last person in Seattle without one.) The ability to borrow library books digitally is hugely useful for my nomadic lifestyle, but I still prefer print media — even though my husband rolls his eyes alarming back into his head at my teetering piles of magazines, newspapers, hardcovers and paperbacks. Taking up precious luggage space, no less!

In my defense, however, I often meet interesting people on our travels through the ice-breaker of comparing what we’re physically reading — something you can’t very well do when you’re staring at glowing screens — and my load gets lighter as I bequeath my dead tree materials to my new friends or leave them behind the next crop of hotel guests to enjoy.

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I’ve gravitated towards historical fiction and memoirs, especially with descriptive language about the food and scenery. When considering a selection of summer reading recs for or about trailing spouses, here’s a diverse list with something for everyone, with links to their Goodreads descriptions:

Book Club Coaching Expat Experiences Trailing Kids

Confessions of a Chronic Expat

by Kristin Duncombe June 21, 2021

written by Kristin Duncombe

Disclaimer: I am a former trailing spouse. My husband and I separated a few years ago, shortly after our move from Lyon, France to Geneva, Switzerland.

We are still very much a family, however, and my Ex lives up the street. But, if COVID-19 ever gets under control and he decides to move? I would not be faced, once again, with the question of closing up one life and inventing a new one wherever we land.

It’s not that this process has ever scared me. As a chronic expat, in the course of my 52 years, I’ve lived in 15 different cities, in nine countries, on four continents. I became a trailing spouse mainly because I fell madly in love with my sexy, smart Ex — but probably also because it seemed so normal to move around the globe because of a man’s job. My dad was a U.S. Foreign Service officer and my ex is a humanitarian medical doctor and epidemiologist who has worked with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

First, I followed my father. Then, my husband. Now, I find it really exciting to ask only myself: Where next?