I’ve been ready to go on this trip for years. I’ve been saving up since I graduated from college. I had a vague idea that this is what I wanted to do, but was never brazen enough to put an actual word to it. And then somehow, fate smiled down upon me and literally bounced this amazing girl into my life. She loves to travel. She’s been to countries I loved (Italy, France, Greece, Spain) and countries I never would have thought to go (Turkey, Cambodia) and has done this for months at a time… on her own.
I don’t remember whose idea it was to go for it (I’m sure she knows, that girl’s got a mind like a steel trap) but she wanted to do it too. We decide to wait until next January, because she likes her job, and wouldn’t want to leave too soon, and definitely not right before the Christmas rush. No problem. It’s safer that way because then we’ll have known each other for more than a year and any red flags will have made themselves apparent.
But honestly, I could leave today. Lately it’s just been harder and harder to care about my work. I’m simply biding my time. Don’t misunderstand me - my company has been amazing to work at for the past 4.5 years. They supported me when I played rugby – my extended trips, torn ACL's, many long weekends all cared for. For the most part didn’t even require that I take PTO for any of the time (god bless “working remotely”). Because of their generosity, I’ve been there much longer than I had anticipated. But I'm just done.
Anyone who knows her can attest to the fact that Erin is amazing at her job. I love to go to her restaurant and watch her work. She’ll be in the middle of a huge rush and she’ll just carry on like it’s no big deal. Love it. About 3 or 4 months when out of the blue her boss asks her if she’d want to be a partner at her restaurant. Jaw on the floor. You may not know this, but cooks get paid appallingly little. So this is her chance to have a piece of something and make a good living off of it. That gift horse has some fine looking teeth.
So I’ve spent the past month tempering my excitement about our trip. Will she really be able to leave? We started planning with the understanding that we had it good but with enough room for improvement that we could leave, and come back in a year and start over in a good place. This is not something you can just hope for on your return – this is a once in a lifetime shot (ok, knowing Erin, it could conceivably happen once or twice more). So all I can do is support whatever she decides to do.
One day earlier this week, being particularly nonplussed with a task I was given at work I send her a text reading, “What if we leave in July?” fully expecting a response stating that I was cute. The reply I got was “Not the worst idea in the world”. Really? I thought she was kidding me. But she wasn’t.
It kind of makes sense. We could potentially leave in July, take a slightly shorter trip (7 months instead of our ambitious 13), and return by February. She could get back in time to help the restaurant’s owner open a new restaurant. I could get back in time to join a small internet company she worked for that is looking to expand.
But damn, July is a little more than a month away. That’s a REAL short time to plan a 7 month trip. We need tickets, confirmations of places to stay, to tell my mom that I’m not going to be rich by working for my current company for the next 20 years. Tell my Brazilian family that I’m coming to visit with my girlfriend in a few months (which after it is done I’m sure will seemed like a much harder task than it turned out to be). To get vaccines. To buy camping equipment. To LEARN to camp. Find a place for her two cats. You know, lots of stuff. And that’s on top of actually finding out if this is actually a reasonable compromise for her boss or just good in theory.
Then there’s the issue of “I’ve known you for seven months”. Sure, people get married in less time. We wouldn’t even talk about the possibility of moving in together (picture fingers in ears, singing “la la la la”). The January trip was a nice deferment on progressing at lesbionic speeds. I think I’m ready. I sure hope she is. Either way, it looks like we're about to find out.
-SB
I don’t remember whose idea it was to go for it (I’m sure she knows, that girl’s got a mind like a steel trap) but she wanted to do it too. We decide to wait until next January, because she likes her job, and wouldn’t want to leave too soon, and definitely not right before the Christmas rush. No problem. It’s safer that way because then we’ll have known each other for more than a year and any red flags will have made themselves apparent.
But honestly, I could leave today. Lately it’s just been harder and harder to care about my work. I’m simply biding my time. Don’t misunderstand me - my company has been amazing to work at for the past 4.5 years. They supported me when I played rugby – my extended trips, torn ACL's, many long weekends all cared for. For the most part didn’t even require that I take PTO for any of the time (god bless “working remotely”). Because of their generosity, I’ve been there much longer than I had anticipated. But I'm just done.
Anyone who knows her can attest to the fact that Erin is amazing at her job. I love to go to her restaurant and watch her work. She’ll be in the middle of a huge rush and she’ll just carry on like it’s no big deal. Love it. About 3 or 4 months when out of the blue her boss asks her if she’d want to be a partner at her restaurant. Jaw on the floor. You may not know this, but cooks get paid appallingly little. So this is her chance to have a piece of something and make a good living off of it. That gift horse has some fine looking teeth.
So I’ve spent the past month tempering my excitement about our trip. Will she really be able to leave? We started planning with the understanding that we had it good but with enough room for improvement that we could leave, and come back in a year and start over in a good place. This is not something you can just hope for on your return – this is a once in a lifetime shot (ok, knowing Erin, it could conceivably happen once or twice more). So all I can do is support whatever she decides to do.
One day earlier this week, being particularly nonplussed with a task I was given at work I send her a text reading, “What if we leave in July?” fully expecting a response stating that I was cute. The reply I got was “Not the worst idea in the world”. Really? I thought she was kidding me. But she wasn’t.
It kind of makes sense. We could potentially leave in July, take a slightly shorter trip (7 months instead of our ambitious 13), and return by February. She could get back in time to help the restaurant’s owner open a new restaurant. I could get back in time to join a small internet company she worked for that is looking to expand.
But damn, July is a little more than a month away. That’s a REAL short time to plan a 7 month trip. We need tickets, confirmations of places to stay, to tell my mom that I’m not going to be rich by working for my current company for the next 20 years. Tell my Brazilian family that I’m coming to visit with my girlfriend in a few months (which after it is done I’m sure will seemed like a much harder task than it turned out to be). To get vaccines. To buy camping equipment. To LEARN to camp. Find a place for her two cats. You know, lots of stuff. And that’s on top of actually finding out if this is actually a reasonable compromise for her boss or just good in theory.
Then there’s the issue of “I’ve known you for seven months”. Sure, people get married in less time. We wouldn’t even talk about the possibility of moving in together (picture fingers in ears, singing “la la la la”). The January trip was a nice deferment on progressing at lesbionic speeds. I think I’m ready. I sure hope she is. Either way, it looks like we're about to find out.
-SB
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