Author: Miranda
I’m sure years from now we will certainly ask ourselves what in god’s name prompted us to quit our jobs, plan our wedding, get married, and leave for a sailing trip set on circumnavigation all in the same 12 month span. Hell, who needs “years from now…” ? I’m already convinced that we are certifiably nut-so. It is entirely possible that this is the worst time for us to plan a trip around the world.
But I saw it. I saw it in Pete’s face. The juxtaposition of getting married and consequently deciding to put off Pete’s sailing adventure put me dangerously close to being the wife who kills her husband’s dreams. Whether it was my decision or not. The timing was just too close. A connection between the two was unavoidable. At one particularly tense moment of wedding planning, I saw my life flash before my eyes. Not in the morbid, oh-my-god-I’m-going-to-die sort of way, but in the way that makes you realize that the time to act is now. It just has to be. There is no other way. The alternative is a life worrying that I caused this adventurous man, a man who’s insane search for adventure and self-growth caused me to fall in love with him in the first place, to lose a piece himself that he’s spent years of his life dreaming about. It wasn’t my past life that flashed before me- it was our future life.
We feel ready to leave Chile. We feel ready to start our next adventure. But, we’d like to stick around our next school for a little while. We’ve both realized that to grow professionally, to see our students grow, graduate and mature into young adults, and to experiment with different courses requires a certain time commitment. Our next teaching job could quite possibly involve down-payments, day care, and munchkins. We are looking to give a coup de gras to our irresponsible, DINK-iness in the most thrilling way possible.
So, we have what we hope to be enough money. We have the drive. We have our health, and we have parents who will, begrudgingly, put us up in their basements if it all goes to shit.