From the beginning on our relationship, Ron and I have talked about moving abroad some day. We figured that we would talk about it more seriously once the girls were older and off to college, once we were ready to retire. Then COVID hit, and like many people, we began to reevaluate our priorities. We discovered we liked the freedom that went with not having to be in a particular place at a particular time. We enjoyed spending all that time with our family (even if it did become a bit much every once in a while). We then turned our conversations to retiring early, thinking we maybe we could get the life we wanted just a little bit sooner. Could we actually make it happen? We figured the least we could do was try. So, we made some changes in our financial planning, selling personal property, buying rental units, budgeting (although now it’s called a spending plan, apparently, because no one likes the B word). It seemed possible!

Once life began to return to normal, we discovered that we now didn’t love our normal and that there were a lot of things we weren’t happy with. We were frustrated with the girls’ schooling and had begun to apply to private schools in Chicago. Then Uvalde crushed our hearts and the Roe decision had us concerned about raising girls in a country where their healthcare decisions were political fodder. We went to Portugal for spring break in 2022 and started to wonder if we couldn’t make our dream to move abroad happen now.

It suddenly all made sense. The girls could get an amazing education both in and out of the classroom. We could offer them some freedom that we were scared to allow them in the US. And maybe, just maybe, we could live a life where we didn’t automatically scour a room for the closest exit in case a gunman decided to appear.

This last year and a half has been full of so many things. There were big feelings and lots of tears (from everyone). There was more stress than we’ve ever felt. There were lots of trips as we tried to cram in all our favorite things before we left. We spent much of the year collecting necessary documents, mentally preparing for the move, and trying to convince L what an exciting adventure this will be (we’re still working on this last one). We also spent some time convincing Emily to join us in this new phase (spoiler alert – she said yes!!). Are we nervous? Scared? Excited? Unsure? Absolutely yes to everything. But at no point in this whole process have we thought to ourselves, “this is a bad idea.” We feel fortunate in our confidence that this is the right decision for us as a family, at this time.

Will we come crawling back in 3 months? Totally a possibility. Will we call it after a year? Perhaps. Will the move be permanent? Who knows. But we are so excited to jump in with both feet – to spend time together as a family, traveling and being immersed in new cultures. Here’s to our new adventure in Lisbon, Portugal. Nos deseje sorte!