Moving to Asia was just a crazy idea we threw around for a long time. When we would get frustrated with our jobs or bored at home we would say "Screw it lets move to Asia" until one day David calls me on his lunch break and is fuming from whatever happened earlier that day at work. We talked briefly and then hung up...literally minutes later I text him "Lets do it...lets move to Asia...we will figure it out." That day is when our perspective on everything changed! IT WAS GO TIME! We agreed that if there was too many obstacles then it was a sign that we shouldn't do it. We also knew we couldn't put a definite date on when we would be leaving or when to buy our one-way ticket until we had the house sold. A WEEK later a very" determined" couple comes to look at the house and they put an offer in that SAME day. At dinner that night David and I were in a daze realizing THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING. I mean we knew it was happening but it was happening way faster than we expected!
Next was accepting the reality of quitting our jobs. I was in auto sales for the past 6 years and everyone knows auto sales are always up and down so I took it upon myself to suck it up and waitress at a high end restaurant for the remaining months we had left. I was at Del Frisco's trying to open and close everyday almost up until the day we left. I am so happy I made that decision I wanted to save as much money as I possibly could. Yes I was exhausted but I knew what the end game was. The end game was all I had on my mind! Also trying to figure out what all was I taking with me in my 40L backpack! This took more thinking than you can imagine. How many shirts was I supposed to pack, or leggings, or sports bra ahhhhhhhh. The easy answer is there is NO right answer.
And as for David...I was a high school social studies teacher/coach 11 years after graduating college. It was a very comfortable career path and afforded me the ability to carve out a good living and comfortable life. I had the settle down starter pack, 9-5 job, house, truck, dog, friends, and girlfriend. Life was generally great. However I was growing increasingly frustrated and unfulfilled with my career. As many know public education can be extremely rewarding but also EXTREMELY aggravating and I was finding I was experiencing the latter more and more every year. The last couple of years of school were basically me doing what I needed to do for the kids to be successful, but nothing more/nothing less. I was going through the motions. I knew I needed out but I had no idea what other line of work to pursue (I still don’t). I felt stuck! Again don’t get me wrong, life in general really was great. I had a job and all those other things I mentioned above, but something was missing: Adventure
After taking a trip to Thailand and Vietnam with one of my best friends, Jeff, during the summer of 2016 I would constantly tease Marissa about selling everything and taking off. I would do some light research, fantasize about it and then go back to status quo. However that all changed during the end of the 2017 school year and bled into 2017-2018 year. I began to heavily disagree with the direction the school I was at was heading, and I was becoming more and more frustrated by the day (I wont bore you with all the details). One morning in the fall of 2017 it all came to a head and I called Marissa and just ranted to her why I hated my job. No more than 5 minutes after we hung up, she sent me a text. “Let’s do it.” I knew what she was talking about and my reaction was instant, “hell yes!”
“Are we really doing this?” We would ask ourselves that every day for the next few months. But as the house got painted, renovations made, it started to become reality. Then as we began to tell our family, friends, and co-workers the excitement began to grow because they were excited for us! Also once we told people it felt like “ok no backing out now!” I’ll admit that even with all the nervous energy and excitement there definitely was stress. Marissa and I definitely had a few arguments in the lead up to our departure. The day I signed my resignation form with the school district was one of the most liberating days I have had in my adult life, and the beer (or 6) I had to celebrate tasted even better that day. All that was left was finishing the school year and selling the house. The rest of the school year flew by as I was able to sit back and enjoy the last 2 plus months, there was no pressure and no burden. Luckily I was able to sell my house to the first couple that came to view it, with a little bit of back and forth, the house was closed on a week after school got out. It was so easy and anybody who has sold a house knows that is never the case! It reinforced to Marissa and I that we were making the right decision. Two chapters of my life closed within a matter of days of each other, it was surreal, but the next one was going to be great.
Marissa and I headed to the airport on August 23. School was back in session, and to be honest, I totally forgot. Our journey was beginning .
