Looking At Life Through Relocation Glasses

We knew this decision wouldn't happen overnight for David's company. Nothing in Corporate America ever does. It's not as simple as deciding that David is right for the job. First of all, this job doesn't currently exist. Second of all, they have no one to replace David here in Alabama. On top of all that, choosing a candidate at his company is like choosing a candidate for the President. Everyone has their "man", their own agenda, and usually favors to pay back. If you make to the end through all that, your approval rating is sky high.

Now we have to WAIT. PATIENTLY. for the Pony Express to deliver the verdict. It's one of those things - if you didn't know you were maybe going to Brazil, you would continue living as normal. When you DO know you may be moving to Brazil, everything you do is distorted through the "if" lens. And I mean everything.

You go to Sam's Club and don't buy the beverage dispenser for this weekends party because you won't be able to take it Brazil. You don't get the trendy haircut because your afraid you won't find a good stylist in Brazil. You don't fill your summer with plans because your Summer may be filled with arrangements for Brazil. Every time you get in your car, you wonder what kind of car you'll drive in Brazil. Every time you clean the toilet, you wonder if someone might do this for you in Brazil. You go to the library and you wonder where you'll get your books in Brazil. You look at the beautiful sunny day and you know it's the same sun that shines on Brazil.

Right now we're living with one foot on the ground in Alabama and the other poised to test the beautiful waters of South America.

We're just waiting for someone to say JUMP. We're so ready to dive in.

This is what I know,

David called to report the latest from his "talks" in Detroit. He is at "Great Lakes Lodge" which used to be known as "Visteon Village", the huge North American Headquarters for his company. It has now been reduced to one building with the others leased out to other large corporations. That's what bankruptcy will do to a company that once had on site dry cleaning, sushi chef, coffee shop... David said it's like a ghost town, with more empty cubicles than occupied.

The job in Brazil sounds as if it is still a possibility. I'm sure we're facing a few weeks of waiting to hear their final decision. Most importantly, David sounds excited about what the job entails. Whoever gets it will have hiring to do right off the bat. I told David that the first hire he should make was an interpreter. It's hard enough to find good help when you speak the same language.

The difficult part for me is all the unknowns. Never having a foreign assignment before, we don't the first thing about preparing our family for this type of move. Worse is that we don't know how we will live in Brazil. Will his company provide tuition for school, an adequate or generous living allowance, are we expected to employ domestic help? If need be, who will help us negotiate all these things? Not to mention learning Portuguese. I'm such a planner that I'm devising a plan for what I might need to plan.

Oh well... when David asked what I thought of all this last night, I told him I was ready.

I cut all the backs out of my bikini bottoms and threw the tops away. How much more ready for Brazil can you get?

Hands of Fate

I've spent two days searching for this rumpled piece of yellow legal pad paper. I always kept it in my lingerie drawer and was shocked when it wasn't there. The last time I read it was October of 2007 when we were packing to move to Alabama into the seventh house of our marriage. I'm desperate to read it once again, because the words came to me from a much bigger place.

I think the year was 2003. I had a twenty minute session with Bob Fontanive from Psychic Search. All the crazy ladies in my family thought it would be fun to have a party of sorts, hire a psychic, drink some wine, and find out about futures. Bob told us not to expect our fortunes, to write down as much of what he said as we could because much of it would make no sense, but it would someday.

This is what I remember to be written on my paper.

"Your son is very bright and will struggle with beautiful people in his life."

"You and your husband will be on the water and your children will be waving to you."

"You will not die of Cancer."

"You will visit South America for a long duration, not for pleasure, for business, within the next ten years."

This is why I want to find that paper. Each one of these statements has come to fruition, or at least I think they will after this week.

Aidan my son is extremely bright and the beauty will probably come at him in the form of girls some day.

I had waited for the water thing to happen and then realized it did when David and I were body boarding together and our friends were on shore with the kids waving. It was a day when David and I felt like kids again and was an AHA moment for me...have more fun in life.

I did have cancer and I survived.

Lastly, David is in Detroit today talking about an assignment in Sau Paulo, Brazil.

I want to hold that paper in my hands and read those words verbatim. I want to believe that what is written will happen. I want to go to Brazil and see my Husband achieve another major goal in his career. I want to show my kids that there's a big world out there and we're just a tiny speck on it. I'm ready for the challenge of overcoming language barriers, bureaucracy, and strange lands. My life has gotten too comfortable.

If we get the international assignment, you will be reading this. If we don't, I'll delete the blog and the daily grind will go on.

Some people believe that fate can be left in the hands of others. Some believe we control our own destiny. When I wrote the psychics notes all those years ago, I pictured myself standing on a beach, watching the surf, drinking from a coconut, my children's hands wrapped around my legs. I hope I sealed my fate that day, visualized my future. I hope my family will travel and learn together.... and I hope to share the entire experience on this blog.

Only the hands of time will tell.