March 28th is a pretty important day in the Larcombe/Mead family calendar.  On that date in 2006, two weeks after the due date, Oscar Mead made his first appearance in the world.  You’d think that this date would be etched into our minds forever; unforgettable, totally.
Not so.  This March 28th, Oscar’s third birthday, almost came and went without the slightest fanfare or celebration.  In fact, when we finally realized what day it was, we marked the event with a chocolate bar and a ride on a coin operated horse.  Oscar didn’t …

In part one of this post, I gave some background into my national identity, or lack thereof.  I talked about the elusiveness of the moment in which it could be said that I became Canadian (having been taken to Canada from England as a child) and the decisive moment in which I later realized that Spain was home to a culture that felt like home to me.  What I didn’t do was answer my own question about why my wife and I felt compelled to relocate to Spain despite the …

Recently I wrote a post about my perception of whether or not I am an expat.  I was very happy to read the comments that followed and also keenly aware that my views on patriotism don’t sit easily with many people.  Since writing that post - and reading the comments that it inspired - my thoughts have been returning to the subject of patriotism and the concept of home time and time again and I just can’t help putting them down on paper, so to speak.  (I’ll miss the pen, …