So here’s my story…
After 12 years in the beautiful Arizona desert I have moved back ‘home’ to Iceland. It is the place I’ve always called ‘home’ even though my house and home have been in Arizona for a large chunk of my adult life. Arizona is the place in which I went to school and received my bachelors and masters degrees, started my companies, had my children, made some of my greatest friends and in any way possible, ‘found’ myself and discovered who I really am.
After 12 years, Arizona had become a ‘home’ to me and it was a place in which I was in my ‘comfort zone’ and I knew pretty well what my days would bring. I have a great job in Arizona as a coach and amazing, wonderful clients and it was a bit surreal to one day have plug myself out of that everyday ‘reality’ and plug into a new everyday ‘reality’ while still working in Arizona.
There’s been A LOT going on in my life these past few weeks so I haven’t been posting much. It all started with my husband being approached and asked if he was interested in exploring a job opportunity in Iceland. We didn’t see ourselves moving back to our old ‘home’ anytime soon but had said to each other (and to the Universe) that we were open to ‘change’ and open to a new adventure. I guess you have to be careful what you wish for:) Then, sort of like out of the blue this Iceland job comes up and he was very interested in the job itself and said Yes to exploring it, thinking one shouldn’t exclude anything and it was good to look into opportunities for we could always say No if we ended up not being interested.
To make a long story short, he was offered the job and felt he simply had to accept it for it was something he really wanted to do, and of course I wanted him to follow his heart. So, as soon as the decision was made, we packed up our whole entire ‘lives’ in just a few weeks, sold many of our belongings and loaded the rest into a container and boarded a one-way flight to Iceland!
We just landed here yesterday and for me this whole thing is still so odd for I sort of feel like I’m here for a little visit, just like it’s aways been in the past 12 years. The fact that I’m here to stay is still pretty darn weird to grasp! Iceland has changed a lot in the past 12 years and everything feels different yet in a way, still the same and so familiar.
I’m pretty excited about this adventure that we’re in for and can’t wait to re-experience my amazing home country through my children’s eyes who are both born in Arizona and have only been here for visits. For them this is a BIG change for they are literally leaving ‘Life’ – as they know it! They are saying goodbye to the house they were brought up in, and to their school, their teachers and school-buddies and to our ‘chosen family’ and to all of the friends they’ve grown up with.
I realize that all of this looks different through their eyes and I’ve tried to really prepare them for this by keeping them as aware and involved in the process as possible, at least as much as possible for little kids to comprehend. I am still amazed at how calm and non-chalant they’ve been about this whole thing. It’s like they somehow ‘know’ that this is mean to be. My daughter who’s 7 has shed a few tears for the friends she’ll miss and for the cat we left behind with friends of ours but she’s been quick to sort of ‘deal’ with everything and has been great about focusing on the ‘positives’ of this move which to her are grandma, grandpa and all the cousins but mostly this; “In Iceland, I can walk to school by myself, go to the store and to a play-park by myself and play outside all the time!” (She’s a very independent little person:))
So, here we are, in the country of the ever-changing light, and while everyone here is fast asleep at 3am in the morning, I’m up again and wide-awake for my body is like “excuse me, woman, it’s 8pm in the evening and you just had a nice, long nap and shouldn’t be sleeping for the night just yet”.
We’re staying with my mother for a few days until the furnished place we rented becomes available and then we’ll start looking for a more permanent living arrangement as our ‘home’ makes it’s trip across the US and then sails across the ocean to meet us here in Iceland in a few weeks.
As ‘normal’ and familiar as this country is to me, there is nothing ‘normal’ and familiar about our lives right now. It’s a little odd being in ‘The Gap’ yet I’m excited to learn what the future holds. We were meant to come back ‘home’. I don’t really believe in coincidences and this whole process has been amazingly fast and quick and also so smooth and easy that it feels like it’s somehow ‘led and guided’. All we had to do was say YES to ‘change’ and to new opportunities and here we are! We’re the same people we were yesterday but now in a completely different location on the planet. Everything is different yet everything’s the same….for wherever you go… there YOU are!
