My wife and I had been planning a major change in our lifestyle for about a year or so when someone taped a grenade to our front door and exploded all our plans.
What we had been planning was to become far more mobile, to experience new cultures and countries, to see more of the world, and write some brand new chapters in our life together. A year of planning is not uncommon for a change of this magnitude. It involves a metric-ton of effort…
*meet with the consulate of a foreign country to arrange the necessary paperwork
*sell or store most of the furniture and household goods
*learn a new language
*arrange travel
*renew passports
*acquire a storage unit
*find a place to live in the new country
*explain to family and friends that we haven’t lost our minds
Theses are just the major things – there are a thousand more minor ones. We thought we still had 5 more months to sort it all out. But then it happened. I returned home from a trip to see my family for the Thanksgiving holiday and there was a note taped to our front door. It was from our landlord. In a nutshell it said that he was terminating our lease in 30 days and we had to vacate.
Wait – what!?!
Our lease was month to month as we weren’t exactly sure when we would be ready to make the big move. But we were NOT expecting only a 30 day runway. Apparently Mr. Landlord either sold the house or decided to move into it. He isn’t saying. But after 6 years, he gave us 30 days. It is what it is.
“It’s impossible!” we both said. “This can’t be done that fast.”
Swimming in equal parts panic and shock, we knew we had to get a plan together – fast. So we did – we are – we are smack in the middle of it as I write this. Gratefully, we both work online and as such are essentially location independent.
After a few days and a dizzying amount of research and phone calls, we started to get some clarity on how this would all need to unfold. It is a completely crazy schedule that involves government agencies in 2 countries. I’m sure I don’t need to pontificate on the difficulties that entails.
But last night we decided to take a break from all the mayhem and sit together on our deck and enjoy the beautiful view, knowing it would be one of the last times. As we talked it became apparent that while the situation at hand was certainly not optimal and bordering on undoable, we were reminded that life is what happens between all the plans.
This will be a monumental challenge however, we will find a way make it all happen. And come next month, we will be sitting in our new place, overlooking the ocean, undoubtedly crazy excited about all the new adventures in store for us. Even now, the excitement is starting to overtake the initial truck-loads of foreboding we both experienced.
I share all of this simply to point out that so many times in life, maybe even most times, things and events that may at first appear to be a near hopeless dilemma, are often the doorway to our brave new world. More often than not, the obstacle IS the way.
Our human tendency to label virtually everything as either good or bad, or #&$!@$#% in this particular case is, in truth, the gateway to enchantments we cannot as yet even imagine. We resist what is, what has already manifested as reality, with such force that we can barely see the glorious possibilities right in front of us.
So, we are stressed but elated, nervous but electrified, apprehensive but enthusiastic, disquieted but aflame. Yes, that’s what we are – aflame.
Like any grand epic novel, the shades of dark and light are what infuse existence with so much magnificent lifeblood. So we will embrace the drama. We will live inside the splendor of play – breathlessly anticipating the next scene, the next characters, and the magical unfolding story of us.
Commencing countdown, engines on…
Check out the Happiness 2.0 Podcast – https://podcast.edwardgdunn.com/
