The Time Has ComeOne Giant Step

I’ve long known that, in order to make a dream come true, you have to take small, continuous steps toward the goal. But it’s not until you have to take the OneGiantStep that is undoable that makes it really real.

Things just got really real around here.

I think we knew within a few days of being in Japan. We just slipped right into traveling mode; feeling comfortable even though we knew where nothing was and could hardly communicate with a single soul around us. Being away just felt right. 

Within just a few days our earlier conversations about moving abroad ‘within the next 6 months’ turned into ‘by early next year’. By the time we were on the plane home we were committing to leaving ‘by the end of the year’ and were making lists of what needed to be done when we got home.

The weekend passed in a haze of jetlag, laundry, and the first post-vacation run. Mondays return to work loomed on the horizon but we avoided any talk of it as we stretched our holiday time out as long as humanly possible.

Nothing can stop the march of time though and Monday dawned just as it always does. If my heart wasn’t in it before we left for Japan, it was not even near the front door upon return. Clearly I had left my heart on the road, and it showed.

I lasted two days before I blurted out to Jason that I thought we should leave by the end of November and listed all the reasons why waiting one more month would be not only unbearable but also would do nothing to move us toward our goal.

Yes, we could save a bit more money if we stayed another month but we could say that about every upcoming month. Yes, eight weeks is a rather short time frame to avail ourselves of all our possessions, clear up our work commitments, and make travel plans but I think it’s doable if we really focus. Yes, our apartment lease runs until the end of March which is 4 months after I propose we leave but maybe we can sublet or break the lease somehow.

We discussed all of this over an evening of cocktails and decided to let it sit over the weekend before making a decision.We, of course, lasted until the following evening when we drafted up a letter to our landlord explaining our plan and asking what could be done about the time remaining on our lease.

Pressing ‘send’ was the OneGiantUndoableStep. 

Waiting for their reply was tortuous.