It Started in 1999

My husband B and I were married in 1999 at Lake Tahoe in California, and ever since then we’ve been talking about where to live. His family is in New Zealand and Australia, and my immediate family is all in California. We started our lives together in a city near San Francisco, in an area where I could commute to my job and the job market was good. We spent several years there until we moved to Atlanta, Georgia, just for a change of pace. When I was pregnant with kiddo number 2 in 2010, we moved back to California so we could be close to my family. I wanted our kids to know my sister and her family, and perhaps most of all, my parents. They were good parents and amazing grandparents. They consistently surprise me with their generosity in the everyday things they do.

B also wants the kids to know his family. More than the occasional visit. Understandable right? And yet here it is 2020 and I’m the one dragging my feet on the move to NZ. So we made a deal. Before the oldest starts high school, ideally with a year left of middle school, we would go. It required more specific financial planning and planning in general. And I had a whole list of caveats that got whittled down to just a few:

• We shout my parents out once a year for as long as their visa allows and as long as they are game for the 14 hour flight

• I bring the kids back to California once a year for several weeks

• Our place in NZ has to have a killer guest room

• We find a way to support ourselves that does not include the stressful tech industry careers we’ve built over the last 20 years

So, we’re ready now. This is the story as it unfolds. Please follow our family along on this little adventure.