I moved abroad at 40 to escape loneliness. I didn't expect how hard it would be to go home.

Deidre Donnelly was single, lonely, and unsure what came next, so she moved to Vietnam.

Provided by Deidre Donnelly

• Deidre Donnelly decided that if she wasn't married by 40, she'd move abroad on her own.
• When the time came, she found a job in Vietnam and began socializing the way she had in college.
• It's been seven years, and Donnelly now feels torn between two homes and wonders what's next.

My late 30s were hard. Living alone in Cape Town, South Africa, I...