Like anything you do in life,
practice makes perfect. And so it is
with your life jumps – the first jump is the hardest.
My
first jump came at age 32. I had been in
a relationship for 2 years, finally completed my college degree, and gave up a
3-decade life in my hometown of Louisville to follow my partner to Washington,
D.C. Looking back on the move, it now
seems like nothing. But it was a big
change for me at that time. I left my
family, friends, and all that I thought I knew to explore life elsewhere. What if I didn’t like it in D.C.? What if the relationship fell apart and there
I was all alone in a strange land? What
if I failed? Of course, none of that
happened. Since then Steve and I have
made many jumps, in our geography, in our careers, and in our outlooks. And that’s the thing about jumps: Over time
they become easier and easier until you are able to take subsequent jumps
without all the questioning and insecurities and make them with joy, excitement,
and a vision to the future.
Our
lives in Washington were fun because things were so different there. I never had it on my radar to live in the nation’s
capital, and the plethora of opportunities to work and enjoy life were exciting
to me. But ultimately neither of us was
satisfied with our careers – Steve’s work writing speeches for a Congressman
left him disillusioned, and I was fired from my hotel restaurant management job
for being gay. Three years into our D.C.
lives we “discovered” Key West on a vacation trip. Here were many more people like us – open and
clueless. So like so many people who
return from vacationing on that idyllic little island, we talked about making
another move and relocating to the Florida Keys.
In August 1992 we made like the “Beverly Hillbillies” and
loaded up a truck and moved to Cayo Hueso. Our
second life jump saw everything we owned locked in a U-Haul behind the old green
and white Key Wester motel, where the Beatles once stayed. We know because the place was festooned with
photos of the iconic band in Key West and in their rooms at the motel, with
plenty of placards explaining it all to us.
We found a house rental and jobs, in that order, in the
first two weeks, and stayed 15 years, with one two-year break in Chicago, where
I worked for the best business leader I have ever met. To this day I always ask myself, “What would
Rich do?”. That life jump to Chicago, brief
because we missed Key West, was one of my best if for no other reason than meeting and working with Rich Melman.
When we finally were able to tear ourselves away from Key
West, we decided our next life jump was to be either to Tucson or St.
Petersburg. We scoped out both with
visits, and decided St. Petersburg afforded greater opportunity for house
flipping, which was what we wanted to try next.
We had a great time until the recession hit. We saw the writing on the wall and ceased
flipping and went back to “real” jobs.
Hated our jobs, hated our lives. So in 2010 it was an easy decision to make a
huge life jump – for certain the biggest yet.
We had wanted to open a Bed & Breakfast for a number of years, but
found it impossible in the U.S. due to the high costs. Then it hit us: Italy is affordable, and what
a fabulous place to live! So in
September we moved to an old farmhouse we purchased in the Le Marche
countryside, fixed up the house ourselves, and had, without doubt, the time of
our lives. We ate cherries, figs,
grapes, persimmon off the trees on our property, and enjoyed fresh vegetables
from our garden all that next summer.
But the recession soon came to Italy, as well, so we were
forced to modify our B&B dream and make another life jump. We sold the house and found Merida, and that
has been the best thing that could have happened to us. The B&B has been a dream, business is
great, Merida is fantastic, and nowhere will you find finer people.
Now we talk about life jumps as easily as we talk about
going to the grocery store. What and
when will be our next? Who knows? But once you jump, you won’t look back.
No comments:
Post a Comment