My husband travels quite extensively with his job and was basically across the globe half the year a decade ago. I was basically a single mom raising two young babies with a husband across the ocean on another continent. My husband had been offered on numerous occasions to relocate to Asia and I always declined. I had a quick reason to offer my husband each and every time he came home with the request to relocate.

I'm nursing . . . where will we live . . . what will we eat . . . do they have diapers . . . what about the toilets . . . I'm pregnant again . . . I don't want a newborn in another country . . . I won't have any friends . . . and my excuse list went on and on . . . it really was never-ending.

Finally, in 2004 I said relented . . . yes, we can all move to China. China? Yes, China. Who moves to China? This statement was always my response. China was not on my bucket list. I had no desire to travel to, let alone live in China. Give me Europe, Italy, Paris . . . I would even take Poland over China. But living in China was not one experience I was open to.

We endured physicals and vaccinations and packing and sorting and sifting (and miscarriage) and apartment hunting and good-byes and exchanges of email addresses. Oh, the painful good-byes to friends and loved ones. We bid farewell to 2004 with promises of long emails as we divided our lives in half . . . one-half Chicago . . . one half of China and began 2005 abroad.

I had been carrying on my life and my marriage in emails the previous three years with my husband since he was always out of the country and it was almost impossible to speak on the phone due to costs and time zone constraints. I knew how to carry on with my life via email. My marriage survived in emails.

I was ready to sustain and foster my friendships via email while living in Beijing. I was ready to email my adventures in Beijing to friends and family. I was ready to keep in contact with my best friend emailing her for advice. . . crying to her in emails over my initial frustration with living in Beijing. Emailing her my excitement when I met my first Australian family. I emailed all my Beijing tales to everyone.

Over the course of a year, the content of my emails changed to all my friends and family. During all these emails back and forth over the oceans . . . my love affair with Beijing was spread out in for all to read. I fell in love with the wonderful city of Beijing. I fell in love with the amazing culture of Beijing. I fell in love with the amazing people of Beijing. I was able to articulate all my feelings for this great city to my loved ones in the US . . . all via emails.

I would not have survived any of those years of separation from my husband or my family or my friends without email. I have a deep love for my email address. I'll never give it up!