I went to Austria last week, and this is what I brought with me

Hi everyone! I’m writing to you from the plane, on my way back from Austria. My husband and I took a short trip to celebrate my dad’s 90th birthday. It was so special to be there with him, surrounded by family, in the place where I grew up.

Maybe some of you know this feeling—leaving your hometown, and in my case, my country, to chase dreams far from home. When I was younger, all I could think about was moving to America to build the life I imagined for myself as a makeup artist. I never stopped to wonder about what would happen when we all got older, how my parents would age, and how different our relationship might look across such distance.