We've Made a Decision
On the same May morning my parents were ending their California visit to go back to India, we had to put down our dog Max. This combination of events left Jason and I reconfiguring our plans all summer long.
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Rewind to a few months before, when we were in the midst of wedding planning. We were thinking about settling down in the Bay Area and examining the housing market. As we looked closer, we realized that buying a home would require a long commute if I wanted to stay working around the bay. This prompted me to really consider the benefits of finding remote work or even beginning my own location-independent business. This would allows us to widen our home search. I was also anticipating a need to have more flexibility to go to India and see my parents more, especially as they got older.
Max had recovered from his April surgery well enough to attend the wedding in May. We blissfully spent the rest of the month touring my parents around California, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon (and covertly trying to convince them to move here). Then my parents had to leave, Max passed and life changed all at once.
We spent the summer debating our options while still trying to regain normalcy without the third member of our family. We always knew that when Max left us (he was 12 years old), we would have some decisions to make, still the timing was a challenge. He was the only real tie I had to being in one place, his passing took the pin out of the map. My heart has grown roots in the community we've created here in the Bay and yet, it is also with my family in India.
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It took us all summer to make a decision. This isn't the way we had imagined it, but here was a way to take care of my parents, travel with Jason again and start our own business. In 2017 we will be taking giant leap of faith and moving to Asia. We'll stay with my parents and get good quality time with them as we figure out our businesses (and our lives!).
We have a rare opportunity (especially before we start a family of our own), to spend quality time with my parents as an adult. We've been living over 8,000 miles apart for seven years now. Plus Jason and I have both been wanting to become location independent professionals.
That's all we know.
There are lots of ways this could turn out. After the lesson May taught me, I am muting my project management brain, letting go of control (just a tiny bit) and letting life happen.
Join us in this next phase of life, and seriously come visit us wherever we may be.