It’s been a hot minute since I have blogged. A lot has happened since I wrote about counting down for our holiday trip to see our girls and family in NZ. We got to NZ and basked in the familiarity of the laid back life style, old friends and the warmth of being together (all 5 of us) as a family. We were wooed by the charm that we had almost forgotten while being back in the states and realised that we were not where we wanted to be.
After our youngest daughter joined her sisters in NZ I felt lost and empty. Sure, our life in Naples was full. Paul had a wonderful job and was blessed with amazing opportunities to grow as a business leader, I had started a business that was beginning to take off and we were with friends that are chosen family and my loving sisters, but we missed the joy we get from being a part of our girls lives. All 3 of them were now 8,000 miles away. In the evenings and on weekends Paul and I would binge watch shows and movies and always ask each other what we were doing? We kept saying, “why aren’t we with our children?”
We both had a hole that could not be filled by work, diving into charity causes by volunteering, treating our dogs like people, making memories with old and new friends and being with family in Naples. When we arrive in NZ this past Christmas we had no idea it would change our lives, again!
The past months have been a whirlwind of closing down businesses, selling cars, packing, readying our home for showings, getting new jobs and me settling into the flat with our girls and nephew in Devonport. I travelled 8,000 miles home for a 23 day feverish clean out of stuff so that Paul wouldn’t once again be left tying up loose ends alone; once his time to join us arrived. I managed to do our taxes and said goodbye (see you later or see you never) to every single person I love in the states. Not one time during this mad dash have I questioned or doubted our decision to leave the US behind with its polarisation of politics, mass shootings, the sadly diminishing rights women and girls have regarding their body’s, burn out inducing work ethics or broken medical system.
I landed my dream job here in NZ at an amazing marketing firm that is a Google Premier Partner as a digital marketing consultant and SEO specialist and have the 10 month of online schooling I did through the University of Miami and my determination to thank for setting me on this new path (a story in itself). After all of these sudden changes I am close enough to see my girls smiling faces and have the ability to hug them. To me that is worth crossing a million miles of ocean for. Family, love, making memories, finding our happy place and realising peace. That is what we are moving toward, what we are here for and I adore and cherishing every moment of it. Paul has yet to join us, but when he does we will be complete . And after a night on the couch of watching Netflix we will no longer sit, lost in the silence of our home, we will be basking in the love that surrounds us.
Jeri's Brain Dump 