An anniversary milestone

"...dreaming of the west coast"
Santa Monica, Everclear

One year ago today we left Portland International Airport on a plane to Europe and started this adventure with no more planned than our first place to sleep (merci beaucoup again Yves and Anne Marie). Through the countless bus rides, trains, walks through towns and other waking moments on this trip, one constant topic of conversation is what our plans would be once we finished this trip and where we'd do them. And while we still haven't necessarily figured out the what yet after many discussions, we've figured out the where...

We're selling our house in Minnesota and moving back to Portland!

The main reason we are doing this is to be able to spend more time with our families (since they are all within about a two hour distance of one another). We made our last move for job reasons and then made life work out. This time we are making the decision based on wanting a better quality of life and making the jobs fit accordingly. In addition, we just really miss sharing life with our families. Being away (both in Minnesota and on this trip) has been a fantastic way for us to build and strengthen our own relationships, but also to help us realize how much we want to continue to build our relationships with them.

In addition, with little kiddies eventually on the way (not NOW), we thought it would be good to be around family who could laugh at our efforts to keep up with the pitter patter of little feet and have grandparent visits a more frequent occurrence than a couple times a year.

It was a very difficult decision; our network of friends in Minnesota has been a much needed lifeline over the last five years and their kindness and friendship has gone light years beyond the Minnesota Nice you always hear about and has gotten us through some rough spots. As sad as it makes us to leave this situation, we feel like we're making the right move for us at this stage in our lives.

So we're exchanging sub zero temps for year-round rain. That being said, we've really emphasized taking care of ourselves and staying active during this trip and we think Oregon will be a better place for us to continue to do that.

However, despite the fact that we know in our hearts this is the right decision, we do make it with a little trepidation. By far our biggest worry is the job market. Any of the other places we were considering moving (Vancouver, Seattle, etc.) have much better job opportunities for us and if we were to stay in the Cities we've both already had inquiries as to when we'd be available. Whereas we are both slightly at a loss about what we will do in Portland and neither of us are terribly pleased with the idea of an extended job search.

But all that being said, we feel comfortable that we belong back with the family. The work will come, even if it's at Powells or Starbucks. So any pre-networking for two out of work world travelers anyone feels like doing would be greatly appreciated :-)

We're really excited about the rest of our trip. As we've told people, we're looking forward to being home but we're not ready to be there yet. In the meantime though we've taken the first step in the next chapter of our lives. And it feels right.

Brian and Becca