Miss you Papa - XO

Have a great first day tomorrow! We love you!

On your marks.... get set....

Tomorrow Ceiba and I will take Chris to the airport to fly out to DC for his State Department orientation. Then tomorrow afternoon, a woman is coming to pick up my greenhouse plant collection, which she bought a few weeks ago.
                    Ceiba & I this past spring

Wow... it's going to be a rough day.

When I say how excited and optimistic I am for the future, it's honest and deep felt. But letting go isn't always the easiest thing to do. Whether it be deciding we don't need 50 handmade family doilies, parting with plants acquired over 15 years, sneaking happy-meal toys to the trash or taking your spouse to the airport (for maybe 3 weeks or maybe 3 months) - it isn't easy. Being a sentimental sap really is not a desirable trait when trying to move your household. We brought home more Johnson "stuff" than would ever be used, but it was sentimental at the time. I am learning to live on memories and pictures and trying to get better at liquidating material things. Though gratifying, it is a slow (but thorough) process.

A good friend said to me "change is never comfortable". I find that being my mantra these days. I make lists on paper and in my head, conquer a room at a time, jump each hurdle and press on. For the finish line is just beyond my line of sight, and oh how we want to get there!

Less than a week....

until Chris leaves for DC (since it's technically 1AM on Sunday).

I've been planning to blog about our new chapter in life since April, when we knew Chris got his new job. If I had started before now, it would have likely bored you. This first postings could go on forever, so much anticipation, so many unknowns, so much yet to do. We are trying to take it a day at a time and not think too far ahead, since we don't know many specifics yet anyway.

This blog will be about our life from my mind. Chris will be tied up for quite a while, and I have the rambling mouth anyway. In going through basement boxes, I found old journals back to when I was about 12 years old. Maybe this can be my new way. A bit more public than the others, but a good record nonetheless. This will probably be more of a family update than a work update, as we've talked to most of you about previously. I'll try to hold your interest ;)

This lifestyle will be a good fit for us, we hope it will be. Every vacation leads us to the usual thought of "Call our family, tell them to sell our house. Let's just stay". It isn't a random or rare thought, it's an "every time we go on vacation" thought. It's a "decorate our house", "eat from where we love", "listen to world music", "grow exotic flora", "watch subtitles for culture" way of life for us. We know some think us crazy to sell our house and jump into a sea on unknowns, to take our daughter out of the US and leave good jobs that we both enjoy here. You can't say we haven't said it might happen. But don't think there aren't those rainy days that we wonder if we're nuts too.... but we know we aren't. This has been a long time coming. We've thought it out, for years and years. And we always come back to these adventurous dreams. When you put two people with the same thoughts together, well that's how we've gotten to this point. For us, it's a good point...it's a great point. It's a happy and excited point. Life is way to short to wonder. We hope everyone shares in the adventures we hope to experience. There won't be a day we forgot where we've come from and the family and friends that we love. The future quality time with family and friends may just be on a beach in the Seychelles or a mountain in Nepal.

Our life a week from today will start a new chapter.... beyond the cornfields.