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Expat Life: Living the Dream

Edd:  Can’t even begin talking about Living the Dream, the title of the last book in our trilogy, without referencing the Thoreau quote that has guided us all these years.

Cynthia:  “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” That refrigerator magnet message has followed us everywhere.

E:  Last time I mentioned a Dan Fogelberg lyric: “Where do you go when you get to the end of your dreams?” In our case the answer is simple—create some new ones!

C:  Ever since I can remember our dream was to chase perfect weather around the globe. As we related in a previous blog, we found that special climate, or at least our version of it, in Cuenca. Now we’re embarking on the second part of our original vision.

E:  The Great Recession of 2008 unexpectedly knocked our life way off course. Consequently, those dreams got put on the shelf for a while. But we never, ever, forgot or gave up on them.

C:  Nope. Everyone probably has fantasies when they’re young about how life is going to turn out. But then as it unfolds, detours and setbacks happen, and too often dreams sadly become forgotten memories.

E:  Our approach has been to expect the best outcome even when faced with overwhelming challenges. Not settling for unacceptable circumstances isn’t always the easiest choice, but it’s your life! If you don’t take responsibility for making it as magnificent an experience as possible, who else is going to??

C:  Exactly. Choosing to live life going forward, focusing on “the next right thing” has worked for us. We’ve certainly made our share of mistakes, but rather than dwell on or regret them, we view those past situations as lessons we needed to learn. Our end of life plan doesn’t include a “woulda/shoulda/coulda” clause.

E:  I think the reason we were ready to walk away from our pleasant life in Cuenca is there was nothing left for us to accomplish. Not that we arrived with any kind of agenda. Far from it. But over the years everything became routine. Familiar. Predictable. How interesting that we both recognized it was time to move on.

C:  You remember the same thing happened when we relocated from Charleston to Las Vegas. We both knew, so we spent zero time “thinking about it.” We’ve learned to trust our gut with most decisions.

E:  That’s all part of the present moment awareness we often speak of. No looking back and saying, “Maybe we shouldn’t. I remember that time when—.” And no what-iffing the future. When you know, you know.

C:  So off we go in pursuit of new dreams. You excited?

E:  Absolutely. We’re going to have a blast. And when this chapter is over, we’ll Imagine, Intend, and Create the next one. Let’s do this!

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