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Does anyone out there feel like they are stuck in some “liminal space,” some “Land Between”?
I sure do. Being stuck in the middle of a move, stuck in the middle of two countries, I feel a bit lost.
As I thought of the “Land Between” that the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown us all into, I thought of these stories that I wrote about the “Land Between” over a year ago. Although different circumstances today, the feelings are the same.
It’s not an easy place to be, this place where you are stuck somewhat “in between.” You can’t go forward, and you can’t go back.
How do we find hope and beauty in this place?
I would love to hear your story and the lessons you are learning during this time.
For now, here is my family’s story of the “Land Between.” I also wrote a follow-up story called “Welcome Back to the ‘Land Between.'” I guess it’s a place in which our family often lives.
November 9, 2018
What it is like to live in the land of transition, the “Land Between?”
Our family has been in transition for awhile, not really sure where we belong.
In any case, we always manage to find and adopt our favorite food places wherever we live. For ice cream, Dairy Queen quickly became a family favorite.
“What Would You Like?”
One night, while eating ice cream at Dairy Queen, I suggested a game. I hoped that it would encourage our teenager to put away his phone and to engage with us.
The name of the game was “What Would You Like?” You take a simple topic and go around the table, asking the person next to you, “What would you like . . .” It worked! Everyone talked.
I chose the topic, “summer vacation,” and turned to my son to my right. “What would you like for our summer vacation?”
As we moved around the circle, answers ranged from “a swimming pool,” to “having our oldest son return from college in Germany to be with us,” to “prepare for college” for our second son who was leaving home in the fall.
Finally, “I would like to know where we are going next!” blurted out of the mouth of our twelve-year-old son. It hit like a bomb, and everyone grew silent.
We’ve been here before. This place seems vaguely familiar, actually very familiar. We recognize the smells, the sounds, the sights, and most of all, the feelings. Our family recognizes this place.
The Land Between
It’s called the “Land Between,” and we’ve been here many times before. Actually, our life is one lived in the “Land Between.”
Married to a spouse of a different land, a different language, and a different culture than my own makes my home and daily life ones forever found in the “Land Between.”
Raising four sons somewhere in between with multiple languages, multiple cultures, multiple passports . . . makes this “Land Between” all too familiar. I live here. It is my life.
Today, we find ourselves in another “Land Between,” that unknown, unsettled place described by William Bridges in his book, Transitions. It’s that place you find yourself in when the life you knew before is no longer possible. Yet, the new life before you is mysterious and unknown. It’s that scary place between your past and your future. It’s the present.
For us today, it’s a place that we didn’t expect, that we didn’t want, that we didn’t ask for. It’s a place of void and nothingness. We grope for something familiar to hold on to, something we have known from our past life. Or, we try to reach for something new and exciting in our future that we cannot quite see yet. It’s dark and frightening here in this place of unknown.
Fish Out of Water
We left our home and life in France unexpectedly and undesirably six months ago to arrive in our “Land in Between,” a small town in Pennsylvania. Our family feels like fish out of water. We all look American, and some of us even sound American, but we don’t feel American. It doesn’t seem like we belong here. It doesn’t feel like “home” to us here. We are waiting in this holding pattern, wondering where we will land next.
Where is the place that we will next call “home?” What country will we move to? What school will the kids go to? Will we have to learn a new language, a new culture, and meet new friends?
We don’t know, because we don’t know where we are going. The fear, anxiety, and unsettledness in our twelve-year-old’s voice could be easily heard. We felt the uncertainty. All of us felt it too. Where are we going? I would like to know.
I’m thankful that I’m not alone in this “Land Between.” I have my family, and I have a light that I follow in the darkness. It shows me the way, a voice of one calling in the desert . . . that there will be a time when I will come out on the other side of this “Land Between.” One day, I will see the light of day. Hope will come again, after despair, and clarity after confusion. The way will become known. I just need to be patient, to wait, and to trust.
The “Land Between” is a place where one must search deep within, because there is no past, and there is no future. It’s a place where you can no longer look back and you can’t yet look forward. You just have to be, just breathe.
Hope is Coming!
As we sit in the quiet, dark, empty space, something begins to stir and come alive within us. Seeds of faith begin to germinate. Dreams begin to birth. Visions begin to dawn. Something begins to awaken that was lying dormant. Something begins to resurrect that was dead and buried.
One day, we will see, we will know, we will hear that this is the way and to walk in it. We will know that next step to take, and we will dare to step out . . . out of “The Land Between” and into the hopes and plans that we were made for.
One day soon—when we least expect it—it will be “Time to Get Out Our Suitcases.”
Our dreams will be unleashed, and we will feel the breath of life and joy invade our souls again. We will one day leave the “Land Between,” until life’s journey brings us here again.
But for now, I will be thankful for the quiet time and space of the “Land Between.” I will embrace it, not resist it. I will welcome it, and not rush through it.
I will sit here and delight in the pleasures of the “Land Between.”
—The Cultural Story-Weaver
It’s not the first time, and not the last time, that our family has been to the “Land Between.” Here’s another story to read—Welcome Back to the ‘Land Between.’
Let’s Weave Cultures!
Have you ever been in “The Land Between?” How did you feel living in this place of transition? How did you get through it? Did you resist it or embrace it? Share your story of “The Land Between.”
We invite you to tell us your own cultural stories and global adventures . . . as you engage with the world, breaking down barriers, building bridges, and “weaving cultures!” Write about them in the comment box below.
