I wrote this before we received some really big and amazing news. The news of a job, stability, income, a home, maybe some normality. We’ve waited too long for this news and it feels wonderful.
We are moving to Phoenix in about a month. Brett is working with the state government in the Joint Legislative Budget Committee as a Fiscal Analyst. We feel so fortunate that it happened so quickly after we came home from London and are very grateful for the opportunity to start the next chapter.
Normal.
I don’t really understand the meaning of this word.
Since Brett and I were married, I’ve always thought that we haven’t really had a normal marriage or life. I think that everyone has a different version of the word normal. I guess in my head, a normal life was getting married, setting up house, graduating, finding jobs, moving once or twice and eventually starting our family.
For us, it was much different. In the last 3 years, we have moved a total of 9 times, lived in 3 different countries, 6 cities, had a beautiful baby girl, took turns looking for jobs, stored all of our furniture and nice wedding gifts in storage, finished graduate school, and have travelled all over Europe.
I feel that many people look at our life and diverse experiences with a skewed perception of it being the adventurous and wonderful life minus the everyday problems overshadowed by a foreign home address. Perfect? Absolutely not. An adventure and a challenge? Absolutely. I have come to learn that things aren’t always as they appear on the outside- life is just life, wherever you live, complete with a fair share of adversity and problems.
It was difficult making so many new transitions, very difficult at times. Looking back on it, I am proud to say that I would not change one thing about the last 3 years. Everything we have seen, accomplished, endured and created has made our family stronger and closer.
As we are embarking on a new adventure and the next chapter (out of many) we are looking forward to settling down somewhere longer than 10 months. The job search and dissertation completion is daunting, but we are hopeful things will work out for the best. Meanwhile, Maya keeps us entertained constantly and we are enjoying each day as it comes.
Here’s to 3 more years times infinity of endless adventures, surprises and road bumps along the way.
