RussellsAbroad: This One's for Ryan

Russells Abroad... Together

While Chris, Lexi, and I are living it up as Ex-Pats in England, our son Ryan is living it up in the good ole USA at Vanderbilt. However, while we get to travel to exotic locales in Europe and Africa, he lives more of a nomadic life, never spending more than 8 months at a time in one place. We do get to have him here at Christmas time and he spent the last two summers with us interning in London. But holidays he is on his own. Thankfully family and friends take good care of him.

This last April, Ryan phones us to say he is 99% sure he tore the ACL in his knee, playing in a frisbee match of all things. Right away the mother in me kicks in wanting to be there for him, to make things better as only a mom can, right? But Ryan informs me he is 21 years old now and can handle it on his own. He did indeed handle it, scheduling his MRI and surgery himself, with help from his girlfriend to get him to and from the hospital.

Ryan has the surgery, wraps up final exams, makes living arrangements for his Boeing internship in California, packs up for the summer, stores what he can't pack, and gets himself on the flight to Los Angeles, all in just over two weeks time. Amazing.

We decided Ryan should fly out to California for the summer rather than make the long drive. So the poor kid has to cram what he can into two suitcases, one carry-on, and a backpack. Picture him lugging all that to the airport while wearing a leg brace, (remember he's just been through surgery) and using crutches. I offered to fly over just to help him with the journey, but he turned down my help, leaving me to feel helpless and anxious, but also proud that my son can handle things on his own now.

Ryan in sunny Cali

Summer goes great, although Ryan had been looking forward to some California surfing but that was not to be while his knee was mending. Internship ends, time for Ryan to journey across the ocean to spend some time with us in England and take in the London Olympics with us. So once again, Ryan must pack up his life into those suitcases and fly through the air from California to England like a leaf floating along wind currents to its next destination. It is no longer necessary to use the crutches or wear the brace but they won't fit in the luggage so Ryan gets to pretend he's just had surgery all over again just to get them on the plane.

So now we have Ryan with us for a few weeks before school starts up again. We treasure the time we have with him since we don't get to see him very often. His luggage, so much a part of his life these days, stands ready to accompany him to the next destination. He is always with us in our hearts though, no matter where he may be.