It’s not the question, but the answer, that’s been keeping me up at night. The kind people I have had the opportunity to converse with in London are sometimes curious to know what was so nasty about the good ‘ol US of A that made us want to leave so badly. This kind of question usually puts me on the defensive without good reason, but it gives me the heeby jeebies that people sometimes assume we left our beautiful native country for the sake of leaving. Silly rabbits.
Trust me, there are days when I feel the strain of having gone far too long without the comforts of my former life in a southern state. I wail and moan about customer service and shake my fists to the sky when I fail to get a proper biscuit out of the oven despite my best efforts. What I mean to say is this: we certainly didn’t leave home just to leave.
I have come to understand that people usually ask the question for one of two reasons. Either they perceive America to be a beautiful land of excess and freedom or they don’t understand why anyone would leave their home country if not fleeing persecution of some kind. Knowing that makes me feel slightly less uneasy except when I consider how spoiled they must think I am.
Ultimately though, we are here to have those kinds of conversations. We are here to understand our home by viewing it from outside the circle. It is our hope to have a broader sense of our belonging to the world and of global issues. And we wanted to know if the people of Walmart live everywhere.  We’ll keep our eyes peeled.