A Stroke of Luck

Ryan and I have been on a pretty crazy ride since the summer we got married.  

We were four weeks from our wedding when he got laid off.  A month later I missed the boat on my dream teaching job and we found ourselves in a rut.  As newlyweds we had some pretty big obstacles in our way.  In those often difficult days, we had no idea that the best was really yet to come.

Six months after our wedding we found ourselves in Korea for the first time, exploring this crazy city and the culture and history of its people.  After teaching, Ryan realized that he didn't want to sit at a desk job that he disliked, and started to dream about what he could do with the rest of his life.  In the meantime I was able to gain valuable experience in the classroom.  Later we were lucky enough to take a trip we'll never forget, and embraced our friends and family with open arms upon arrival at home.  We appreciated everyone even more after being away from them.  

By further crazy circumstances we did it all again, packing up last summer and taking the leap for round two.  I'll never take for granted the opportunities this year has given us to see new places, revisit old favorites, and share our home away from home with my family.

Ryan and I recently talked it over, and we decided that even though our jobs were set to finish at the end of September, we wanted to extend that time to the end of the year.  

"How about leaving in December?" we offered our supervisor.   

"How about adding another year to your contract?" our school countered.   

"Meet in the middle on March?" we both discussed. 

But that didn't work out, for a variety of reasons.  Initially we were quite frustrated.  Ryan and I had more we wanted to do here, and were hoping to save a little more money for a bigger trip once we finished teaching.   But a year from October is too long.  Even staying through next March would cut our travel plans shorter than we'd like.  There are opportunities that we have to take advantage of now, because that chance might not come around again.

In many ways we're in a little bubble here, with endless amounts of time for each other and with few of the distractions that daily life in the US provides.  Sometimes we don't want that to end.  But time keeps moving along, and this life isn't going to wait for us, we have to live it now.

There are fewer months left on this adventure than we thought.  But when I reread Dalai Lama's words, I know that once again, they apply to us.

We're getting more excited every day as we look at possible travel opportunities.  We are looking forward to enjoying our last summer in Korea, and eventually the chapter after that... whatever it may be.