After talking about it for almost a year (and boring everyone to death), I actually went ahead did it – I got real plane tickets (instead of the kind that existed just in my head, for all that time). I now have three economy seats headed for Santiago, Chile, on January 31 at midnight.
My kids and I decided to take off -- figuratively at first, and now, quite literally. I’m quitting my job and they’re being pulled out of school so we can spend at least 3 months where I was born. Nicholas and Carmen will be learning Spanish. I’ll be… (to be determined).
Peter, my darling husband, is staying in Canada, to pay the bills (however, a “love visit,” as one acquaintance bluntly put it, is definitely planned.) To say I’m excited about my Chilean sabbatical is probably the understatement of the year.
But I’m also…. terrified, of course. Lots of “what ifs” tumbling around in my head, like:
What if we hate it (or the kids hate me for taking them) down there?
What if something happens, to any one of us?
What if we do not adjust to Chile’s customs and way of living?
And, my favourite one of all -- What if I never, ever find another job, after we come back next spring?
Yup.
So, whether my bold move is actually daring… or just plain deluded, is also yet to be determined….
