This will actually be a short post, I was contemplating the cost of leaving the country when we spent nearly a hundred dollars on American tampons and deodorant (things hard to find in China). But this isn’t just about having to pay for another background check because the first one says “not for employment purposes”… This is about the perseverance that you must practice in all of life’s arenas. The cost is the risk and triumph and also failure. It is realizing in small moments how much your mom is going to miss you, or how much of your “American life” you’ll miss. The cost is great and the reward is not certain. But you must march forward when it is challenging. Turning back does not seem an adequate option. The poem I am posting below, by Rudyard Kipling, is about this, at least to me. Tell me what you think. 

  
Here’s the photo credit!