THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2023 47 b This group emerged spontaneously decades after shared experiences among the children of several nationalities. Does looking back together help affirm our experiences and our way of life as a TCK? Does the account here offer a possible “teachable moment” for both parents and policymakers? What can parents do to better understand the issues of adjustment from the point of view of the children who accompany them overseas? What does it mean for the aims of the Foreign Service (or any international organization) that the formative experiences of such children can have a lifelong influence on their values, attitudes, and perhaps career choices and voting preferences? What could such a group offer to current Foreign Service families as suggestions for making the best of a foreign experience for their children? Is there possible value in the reflections of a Ruth Whitman, John R. Whitman’s sister, and their father, Roswell H. Whitman. Children rode Arabian horses from the AA Stables adjacent to the pyramids to the tent for social events virtually every weekend. COURTESY OF JOHN R. WHITMAN group long after their retirement years that should be of interest to policymakers and researchers concerned with the image these children leave behind in their host countries? We are grateful for the opportunity to share our story with the Foreign Service family. Not all of us were affiliated with the U.S. Foreign Service; our common connection is with Cairo American College. And in a larger sense, our fellowship comes from living that extraordinary experience now commonly referred to as “third culture kids.” n Seeing a former schoolmate you haven’t set eyes on in 60 years is a kind of wake-up call.
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