These two suitcases packed all my belongings when I first moved to New York in the fall of 2014. While I was packing, my mom told me to throw out everything I didn't need anymore, and to pack everything I do need into my two suitcases. Since I wasn’t going to be living in Sri Lanka again, it would be a waste of space to leave a ton of things at our house there. She was only speaking practically, but that statement was unsettling because from now on no matter where I went I had no physical sense of “home.” I am a third culture kid (TCK), so I have no idea of what it is like to live somewhere permanently, not even in the country that I hold citizenship for (Japan) because I have never lived there either. This uncomfortable feeling continues even while I live in the US because I am on an F-1 visa, and even if I wanted to live here past graduation, it is all dependent on whether I receive sponsorship from an employer. These two suitcases are a symbol of my life as it is now – being in limbo. They are always visible in my room, waiting to be packed for my next plane ride. Hopefully, one day I will be able to stash them away so that I will not have to think about them unless I am going somewhere for a holiday.

– Leila

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