Meet Zia Zoë

A con to living the expat life is being many miles and many more miles away from family.  

In my life my family is already quite small and scattered across the United States already.  

My mother lives in Arizona, her father lives in Arkansas, 

my father's brother lives in New Jersey, and my sister lives in Washing DC.  

Thats my family. 

Zia Zoë with her nephew Maddox 

My sister Zoë and I are five and half years apart in age…to the day.  

Our half birthday's land on each other's birthdays.  

She was still just in elementary school when we moved from Italy to the United States.  

I was on the verge of graduating high school  and 'too cool' to hang out with my younger sister.  

In University I was ready to build that relationship and she was busy growing up in high school.  

Since  her graduation from Uni we have finally met on the same plane, but now separated by distance.

  I really look forward to the short moments of time we get to spend together. 

 I was fortunate to have a week last summer and a busy week at Christmas with my sister. 

Zia Zoë with her nephews Ronan and Maddox.

My boys having special time with her means a lot more to me now that our dad is no longer with us.

  When its the two of us with Ronan & Maddox 

I see us filling our dad's shoes so they can experience his life through us.  

Loss is hard and distance can equally be challenging.  

It is why I really enjoy having Google Hangouts, 

especially since many people can join in with no charge, compared to Skype.  

Video chats are a luxury my sister and I did not have 

when we were growing up as a military family living abroad.  

It makes me quite interested to know what technology will be available 

when my own children have children.

Zia Zoë with her nephews superhero and villian. 

Side note: My boys call my sister Zoë, Zia, which is 'Aunt' in Italian. 

My mum is called 'Nonna', Italian for grandmother.  

The six years my family spent in Italy alone has impacted our family culture. 

With my little sister Zoë and my two sons.