Thoughts on Moving Half Way Around the World

"People tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will descend like fine weather if you're fortunate. But happiness is the result of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly."

—Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

I suppose this would be as good of a time as any to write out some of my thoughts about moving. Moving half way around the world is something I’m going to assume may never happen again. I think it’s worth documenting.

People keep telling me I appear to be so cool with the move and for the most part I am. I have had a few panic attacks, but those have been more along the lines of; what if I don’t meet any friends that like Twilight? The mechanics of the move are all slowing coming together. Annmarie has a passport and we all have our Visas. And thanks Australia for the work permit, but hopefully I won’t need that. We’ve met with the moving company and they are doing all the work as far as that goes. Dude, they even pack our dishes. Met with the property management company and they’ll be helping us rent our place. We’ve been cleaning closets and purging stuff that we should have gotten rid of a long time ago. We’re getting our banking in order, maybe selling a car early and try living with one for awhile. So you see all of that stuff is working it’s self out and I’m trying to be as zen as I can about it all.

This is the harder stuff.
Annmarie’s first break-up - This is going to be hard. I couldn’t have imaged a better arrangement for Annmarie than her getting to spend her days (when I’m at work) with Colin and our incredible Nanny. AM and Colin adore each other. They may often have fierce arguments over the train track and food envy, but they insist on holding hands when they walk outside and will often resolve matters by hugging it out. And while I know Annmarie will get over the break-up, my chest cannot help but ache when I think about what I’m going to say to her when we say good-bye to Colin. Then will come the subsequent days when she keeps asking to go to Colin’s house. Ug. It’s almost too much.

Friends and Family – It goes without saying that we are going to greatly miss our friends and family. A new appreciation for family overwhelmed me when I had a child and their help and support has been incredible. It will be hard being so far away, it’s just that simple. But webcams are being installed and visits will happen. We are excited for the opportunity to meet new people and I’m working on my Mom pick-up lines and holding out that friends will visit too!
Leaving San Francisco – I love San Francisco! And I’ll say it again I LOVE San Francisco. I am going to dearly miss this city by the bay. What originally started out as “let’s live in the city of a couple of years” has turned into a eight plus year home. Jamie often mocks my San Francisco experience because I have always enjoyed the luxury of parking. I get the spot at home and for a mere $12 a month I get to park at work. This is really un-thinkable. I’ve never dealt with the daily ciaos of public transportation, other than the occasional times I’ve taken it for social reasons. I’ll miss the obvious picturesque scenery, the countless number of fantastic restaurants, the close proximity to nearby getaway places, and yes, I will even miss the fog. The list is long of all the little things I’m going to miss. I often forget the uniqueness of S.F., and while I only grew up an hour outside of this city, the two are a like night and day. There are not many places in this country where you can experience so much diversity in a city the stretches only seven miles. I’m feeling more nostalgic about this place because odds are when we do come back to California it will not be back to S.F. We knew this move was coming and we would be uprooting our urban living for the burbs, but it still saddens me. I’ll always feel a connection with this city. There is magic in this city.
Staying Home – Not working. Not collecting a paycheck. Whatever you want to call it, I’ll be spending the majority of my time caring for Annmarie, and I guess Jamie too. I’m ecstatic about this opportunity. I couldn’t be more excited for this, but I know it’s going to be different. This will be an adjustment for me and our family, not only financially, but in other ways too. I always hear that line “the days are long, but the years short” and I think how fast these two and half years have gone by with AM. I’m so grateful that I will have this time in Australia with her. I’m keeping my figures crossed that we don’t drive each other too crazy and the resulted therapy is minimal. I kid. I kid.

At the end of the day or should I years – we’ll be back! This isn’t a permanent move. However given the U.S. economy and the state of our government a foreign land often feels quite appealing. Ok, I’ll stop with the kidding. We’ll be back in no time. We feel so fortunate to have this opportunity. To us it would be crazy not take it and try it out. It’s something we have always dreamed about.

These years in a different land will provide us with a lifetime of memories. And most likely the most tortuous plane ride ever.

-Angela