Of Vikings, Quarantines, and My Really Empty Nest

My nest is suddenly really really empty.   My fledglings have flown, and my viking has set off on new adventures, conquering foreign lands, if you will, and readying the new fort for my future arrival.  Prepare yourself for a bunch of mixed metaphors—it may not behoove me  as an English teacher to indulge in the metaphors so shamelessly, but it’s helping me deal with this next stage in life.

So, as  I mentioned, the nest is really empty. Though I knew it was coming, it still seems like a huge surprise-not the fun kind, but more of a splash of cold water when you least expect it. The nest has actually been a bit overcrowded in the last few months, since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Viking child number one had to return home from in March when the universities shut down.  Viking child number two, a high school senior at the time, was with us as we navigated e-learning from home.  Our family is used to togetherness, as the kids have always attended the international schools where we have worked. They have gallantly put up with a lot over the years, having a father as their high school principal and their mom as a high school teacher and guidance counselor.  But suddenly we found ourselves home together 24-7, finding our private study spaces in the house, making forays into the kitchen for sustenance, and trying not to kill each other.  In the midst of the chaos, I knew a big change was coming and really just tried to enjoy it all. We were blessed to be riding out the pandemic in Norway, a country which had good control over the corona virus and a relatively low infection rate. We could escape close quarters in the house, simply by going out our backdoor and hiking the ridge behind the house, or venturing a few kilometers down the road to explore the coastline paths and forests. Norway has an abundance of natural beauty, and we took full advantage of the opportunities to get out into nature as often as possible.

 So what is my new reality and where is my viking-husband, you ask? To answer, I need to backtrack a bit. Jørgen (aka Viking Husband) and I met in the US, spent the first few years of our marriage in Austria, and then set off on a two year teaching job in Argentina.   Nine years and two baby vikings later, we were ready to move on to the next international school adventure.  Over the past 25 years, we lived and worked on five continents, and raised our little vikings as TCK’s, or “Third Culture Kids” (more on that another time).

Viking husband comes from nomadic stock. The child of diplomats, he grew up in Kenya, the US, and Austria. Traveling is in his blood, but he is also strongly connected to his Norwegian culture  and family.  Every year we returned to the Viking Homeland to visit, but had never actually lived there. So in 2015, after teaching in China for four years, we made the decision to move to Norway and give our kids the opportunity to be immersed in the Norwegian culture and language. 

• 

• 

Fast forward to August 2020, smack dab in the middle of the global Covid pandemic.  The offspring have officially left the nest, and are both in the US for college: one a senior and one a freshman. (They are at great small colleges that seem to have safety precautions in place, so let’s hope and pray that they get to stay in school). Viking husband and I had been looking forward to our new role as empty nesters—you would think this would mean a little peace and quiet.  But no, life with my viking is never boring.  Instead, he has taken a new job, an amazing opportunity as director of a small international school in Cameroon.  And that brings us back to me:  I am in the middle of applying for dual citizenship in Norway, a process that got stalled in March, due to Covid restrictions.  So while I wait for paperwork, I am empty nesting it on my own in Norway. Well, the cat and I are holding down the fort together.

As we have all learned during this global pandemic, you never know what life is going to bring you next.  I never expected the life of an accidental nomad, but I am willing to embrace the adventure.  Cameroon awaits. Stay tuned!