I had a moment of doubt. A moment when I second guessed this journey. A moment when I thought, “What the heck are we doing?” A moment when I questioned our sanity, and wondered if, perhaps, we are a little “off.”
We’re leaving the comforts and routine of our home for a full year. Other people will be living in our house. We’ll be living in other people’s houses. I’m nutritionally challenged (vegetarian, gluten and dairy and caffeine-free); easy to do in the USA, but what about abroad. And we won’t see our friends and family (which includes a grandson) and our dog for a year. Who does that to themselves?
But I guess the excitement of a year abroad overtook the nagging questions and concerns of the past days, weeks, and months. No matter what, this will be an adventure. And adventure is what we seek. And if it’s just too much of an adventure (or if we get too homesick), we know how to come back.
The past month has been a whirlwind of packing and cleaning and house projects and making more airline reservations and fixing broken laptops and getting shots and medicines and minor surgery and visiting family and friends and….saying our good-byes.
The good byes are the worse….and I admit the hardest one was tonight (June 1) when we said goodbye to our almost-4-year-old grandson. There were tears (us, not him, since he doesn't quite get it). Fortunately, we live in a connected world, and he’s at a good age to understand how to FaceTime and talk on the phone and send us photos, etc. I’ve spent all my life moving away from family or having them move away from me. I’m used to goodbyes, but that doesn’t mean I like goodbyes.
On the flip side of “goodbyes” are the “hellos.” The meeting of new faces and making new friends. We both look forward to these connections that make our world a smaller place. Though there are many differences from culture to culture, I love discovering the similarities. When I was in Dubrovnik, Croatia, my mom and I climbed far up inside the walled city and discovered family homes, a neighborhood. We sat down beside a park and watched a mom and child enjoying the evening. And I thought, all over the world moms (and dads) take their children to the park. It’s a universal thing. And those universal similarities are what connect us as humans sharing this planet. These are the kind of discoveries I look forward to experiencing around the world.
So, off we go…into the wild blue yonder.
Hasta luego…in Scotland. (We leave Tennessee the morning of June 2.)
Pam
“It’s a big world out there. It would be a shame not to experience it” – J. D. Andrews
On an airplane somewhere in the world.