No Place Like Home

One of our final sunsets in Nafplio, Greece.

About six months ago, my life reached a crossroads.

My job, as I knew it, had taken a new direction – one that I simply could not take with it. Around the same time, my girlfriend, Fran, was going through almost the exact same thing with her job.

Life was changing, and much of it was out of our control.

Our careers and futures had become question marks. But instead of looking at the gravity of finding new jobs, which might require even more changes, Fran and I looked at each other and narrowed our situation down to one simple thing.

This was an unbelievable opportunity for us. So many things were out of our control, but that opportunity was very much in our hands. We had to make the most of it.

Two months later, we were boarding a flight for Peru. Then one to Ecuador. Then on to the Eastern U.S., Denmark, Estonia, Russia, Italy, Greece and others. There were 13 countries, 25 flights and an endless supply of memories and new friends.

It has been nothing shy of unbelievable.

But a trip like this cannot last forever.

As I sit at a sidewalk café in Nafplio, Greece, I am enjoying the slight sea breeze blowing through the maze of pedestrian streets, as the bright sun tries to fight its way through the awnings that provide shade.

I’m loving it, but I also know that at this time tomorrow, we will be on an airplane heading toward home.

That part, too, feels right.

When I was in school, I studied abroad for a summer in New Zealand and for a semester in Australia. At the end of both, those people who were staying longer asked me how I could possibly go so soon, and I wondered how they could stay longer.

My time at each of those places was wonderful, but I always knew the end dates, and I think my subconscious prepared me for exactly that length of time.

Because despite the wonderful new places I’ve visited and the amazing new people I’ve met, I have never lost sight of the fact that I live in an amazing place, full of some of the best people in the world.

I have no idea where our lives and careers are going to take us. But for now, I’m ready to come home.

Next stop: Denver.