Sometimes life throws you curveballs that you least expect. Other times, you purposefully make choices to throw yourself a curveball, grab it, and run like the dickens! That is what has happened over here in my life. Radical life changes were chosen and made!
Last winter I tossed out the idea of moving to my husband. Not a terribly far move, but a move that would take us from the South Bay to the East Bay. This move would take us closer to family and to the mountains. After spending 32 years raising our children in a town that we both were deeply connected to, it was not an easy decision. Weekend after weekend last January and February we toured through many open houses in many different cities, trying to pinpoint where and what we wanted. Did we really even want to move? Was this just a fantasy to be lived through house hunting, or an action that we were really willing to take? We made lists of what we wanted and what we would need in order to really make the move. We talked and questioned ourselves endlessly.
Then late last March we walked into a home and said, “Yes! Let’s do this!” This home did not check off many of our must-haves to move, but it spoke to us in other ways. We wrote an offer, it was accepted, we put our home on the market, it sold, we packed, and we moved. In roughly a five-week period, we went from happily living in Morgan Hill to unpacking in a new home in the Oakland Hills. The changes happened so fast that my head was spinning.
I spent the last seven weeks of the school year commuting to work, an extra three hours a day in the car – and unpacking on the weekends. I then started interviewing for new jobs and packed up my classroom at the end of the school year. Saying goodbye was hard, but it was balanced with the excitement of new beginnings.
One thing that I have learned in life is to embrace new beginnings. For my husband and I, it felt like it was the time to shake things up and make some radical life changes. Our six children are grown and not one of them was planning to move back to their hometown. So we did it! We moved.
My husband’s job has stayed the same, I on the other hand needed to find a new job. It had been years since I put together a resume and went through the interview processes. I applied to half a dozen teaching positions, I was offered three interviews, and ultimately three job offers. It was nice to have options. I made a purposeful decision to accept the position that would challenge me the most, a teaching position that would force me to learn and grow as an educator. And oh boy, it has! I have spent 26 years teaching in a suburban/rural area. Now I teach in a high-needs, Title 1, urban school. I am learning and pushing myself every day to be the teacher my students need me to be.
One aspect of life that I have doubled down on through all of my radical life changes is my health! All of our changes, even though we chose them, have added stress to my life! A lot of stress. I spent the summer getting my 200-hour yoga certification, I am a new member in a new yoga studio, I spend time each week meal planning plant-forward menus (I love my new grocery store – Berkeley Bowl and my local farmer’s market), I continue to meditate and journal. Our new home offers wonderful tree-lined trails right outside our front door – walks that I enjoy daily. It’s been a lot. Maintaining balance has been a priority.
I won’t say that making this large of a change has been easy. It hasn’t been easy at all. But we are happy we made the leap. We are learning our new community, beginning to build new connections, and enjoying all that urban life offers. One day my husband exclaimed, “I’m living my dream!” I looked at him and said that I had no idea this was his dream!?! His reply was that he had forgotten all about his dream of living in the hills with a view of the bay and working in San Francisco. This was his dream as an undergrad at Cal Berkeley. Lesson learned: never give up on your dreams. It might just be 40 years in the making. Radical life changes – sometimes we actually choose them!
Congratulations! Welcome to suburbia