|
My Dream Comes True...28 Years Later!
Have you ever visited a place and loved it so much you said to yourself and/or others you wanted to go back and live there someday?
That thought stays in the back of your mind, popping up every now and then, wondering if there will ever be a right time to actually make it happen. The "can'ts", "not nows", or "just dreaming" tend to take over when jobs, businesses, kids, older family, homes, money, health issues or other responsibilities take priority compared to making dreams happen.
I've lived my share of that mind game. Although I've taken a lot of risks throughout my life in order to live it on my terms, I've also backed down a lot because I had certain responsibilities to others as a result of the choices I had made. We all do trade offs...especially when we give life to other human beings and raise them as best we can.
While doing that, we get sucked into bigger homes with mortgages, multiple cars with monthly payments, lots of toys that just get more expensive as the kids and we grow older. Year after year we just accumulate more "stuff" and it starts to weigh us down. Under that weight, it just seems like too much trouble to move anywhere else or too hard to change the lifestyle we've developed. So sometimes our dreams get dimmer and we decide that maybe they were just silly ideas of our younger days.
Well, I'm here to tell you that sometimes dreams actually come true when these three ingredients are in place... TIMING, FOCUS and GutZ.
Timing is HUGE! It's Why You Don't Give Up on Your Dreams
Several years ago, when we made the move from Beulah to Pueblo, we made the conscious decision to RENT a home as opposed to buying one. Why? So that we could be free to move if the opportunity came up. Since my Hubby has never really like Pueblo, we figured the time would come.
I honestly am not a very good home owner even though I've studied the money game for many years and know the benefits of home ownership versus renting. I like the freedom that comes with non-ownership.
So when my daughter graduated from high school last spring and moved into her own place with a job and college classes, my hubby and I looked at each other and said, "OK, so where will we move to?". We discussed other cities in Colorado, California, Utah, Washington and Idaho, but nothing really excited us.
All of a sudden I remembered (drum roll, please...)
What about Australia?
Ever since Joe sent me a ticket to come visit him in Australia for 3 weeks after we first met in Keystone, Colorado, I've wanted to go back to experience the beaches, food and people of that magical land down under! I advised my hubby to keep his Australian citizenship even after we got married, JUST IN CASE we might want to move there some day.
Well, after 28 years, it seemed the right time and circumstances had appeared!
Since our son was now 24 with no positive prospects for jobs or ANY other worthwhile opportunities in Pueblo and my daughter graduated and wanting to be out on her own, as well as an economy seeing its' worst days since the Great Depression...Hey it just seemed like the PERFECT TIME to move on and take the plunge.
The Law of Attraction is an AMAZING thing!
It didn't take long at all to put the request out into the universe and get back the answer, once we determined to FOCUS on that goal. In fact it was SCARY it was so fast and easy!
Joe asked his old ski buddy who lives and works as a ski instructor in Colorado and Australia if he knew of anyone we could stay with or rent from until we could check things out and the answer was YES...HIS PLACE! We went up to Aspen shortly thereafter to celebrate our friend's 60th birthday and negotiated the details with him and his wife.
The Best Layed Plans....You Know How That Goes
Everything was put into high gear as we would have to be in Australia before Christmas for it all to work. There was TONS of official paperwork to be done as wells as divesting of the mountains of "stuff" a family of four accumulates over close to a thirty year period and only four months to do it in. Money was an issue as well...how exactly would we work that small little detail out?
Needless to say, those 4 months were a whirlwind of activity, stress, anguish and fear, but we just kept the faith that it would all work out and focused on taking the necessary actions needed to make it happen.
Do you know how hard it is to sell and/or give away 30 years of "stuff" in a four month period?
I dare you...try to condense four people's stuff, 2000 sq. ft. of home as well as a FULL garage, not to mention a separate office full, down to a 16 ft. long by 8 ft. high box trailer. Then there was the 4 cars, a motorcycle, 2 dogs and a cat.
Then there was the "money thing" we were waiting for which didn't happen to come before the 17th of December deadline.
And don't forget about a surprise announcement by our daughter and her boyfriend that they were getting married before we left and she wanted a formal wedding! (They decided to stay put in Pueblo and we MISS them already!)
I thought I was going to go INSANE!
The only thing we could think to do so that we didn't put our buddies and selves into a panic was to buy our son a one way ticket so that he could take over our friend's place in Port Macquarie and pave the way for us to come later.
Well, the wedding was small but LOVELY, Our son made it before our friends left for Aspen, e got the money, the Australian Embassy approved my last minute change in visa type, the money came, the house was cleared out (and cleaned, thanks to the kind gift from my brother) and Joe and I left for the Great OZ on January 8th...Joe's 64th birthday!
WHEW! It's AMAZING what miracles can happen when the universe aligns with intention!
I invite you to join us on our AMAZING journey to the "Land Down Under" by following this video diary of our experiences and the people we meet on this INCREDIBLE AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE!
This is part 1 of a multi part series we hope you enjoy and find the inspiration and motivation to make YOUR dreams a REALITY!
CLICK HERE to see Part 2 of the Grand Adventure!
|
