Living our dream

Ten years ago or so I came across and article in Chicken Soup for the Traveler's Soul.

Well, there it is. My public admission that I've read Chicken Soup books. Please don't think less of me. We all have dark secrets in our past, after all.

Anyway, so I came across this article called "Living Your Dream" that inspired me. An excerpt is below:

When my wife Peggy and I quit our jobs to go teach in Lima, Peru, we heard many comments and questions about our plans. One phrase, repeated often, haunted me. Most of our colleauges and friends simply thought we were crazy. "But you have a perfectly good job right here," the said. "Maybe you lost something down there and need to go get it, but I don't." "Do you know how to speak Peruvian?"

...

After eighteen months overseas, we arrived home with no money. In fact, we were in debt. But our riches include a shelf of ragged guidebooks, a trunk of well-worn maps, two minds filled with memories and no urge to say, "we almost did that."

I just love that last line.

I saved the article. Several years later, when David & I were dating, I photocopied it and mailed it to him with a note that said, "proof that marriage doesn't have to mean settling down." The other day when we were packing, we came across the article. I read it out loud and we both ended up in tears.

We're doing it. It might be crazy. It might not turn out the way we're hoping. If things go south, we might be back in two months.

But we might love it. It might be everything we're hoping for and more. If things go well, we might stay longer than a year.

No matter what happens, I'm already glad we won't have to say "we almost did that."


p.s. A few weeks ago, I googled the author of that article, Steve Gardiner, and emailed him to tell him how his article inspired me and how we're planning to move to Peru. He just wrote me back tonight. It was fun to hear from him -- and encouraging to know that he's not still in debt and jobless!