The Big Change

Our church publication asked me to write something about "Big Changes" for an upcoming issue with that theme. I figured that article was a good way to kick off this blog, too.

One of my favorite bosses was fond of saying, “Change is the only constant.” While I didn’t quite understand or believe her at the time, I now find myself thinking that same phrase with some frequency. The last year and a half has been a big change for me, period, as I had Simon and left work. For all the planning that went into both of those events, those changes were pretty seamless.

And now we are in the middle of another big change. For years Sam and I have talked about living and volunteering in a Spanish-speaking country. Figuring out the timing pre-Simon was the hard part – neither one of us was ready to leave our job. And then we had Simon – how practical was it to consider traveling & living in another country with a toddler?

We quickly decided that Simon would be a fantastic traveler: he’d help start conversations and break down cultural barriers. The timing was right to leave this fall. Sam asked the Global Gifts board for a sabbatical, which they generously granted. Sam hired an interim director and we left mid-September.

I’m writing this four days into the big adventure, so not much has happened yet (at the same time that so much has happened). But I’m constantly reminded that these experiences are always cycling through highs and lows, sometimes many times in a day. There’s the high of speaking Spanish and the low of having our parenting openly judged. There’s the simultaneous high and low of doing something crazy and scary and life-altering: having the dream but also making it happen. The high of meeting new people and planning the next stage of our trip and the low of missing the comfortable routines of home and friends.

During college I took off a semester and went to the Yucatan Peninsula to learn Spanish. I was miserable and considered returning home. I stuck it out, though, and what helped were simple things like looking forward to an activity scheduled for a week later, or walking around and exploring somewhere every day. And now the overall experience is one I value intensely. Remembering that as I cycle through elation and panic is helpful. For all the constant change that we are creating this year, we’ll also create a lifetime of memories for our family.