Make Good Choices

To do or not to do?

Butch and I have faced this question about a gazillion times. I'm sure everybody has, but I'm not talking about the mundane decisions of daily life. I'm referring to the unexpected or uncommon ones.

The scenario: 2 year work rotation available in Rome, Italy. A choice needed to be made. To go for it or not? We decided, yes. It seemed simple enough.

Who knew that the decision to temporarily move abroad could turn our world so upside down. Sure, we knew that we would be giving up some things, but we figured that we would be making up for them with "other" things. For instance, I'm postponing a massage therapy career in exchange for the opportunity to immerse myself in Italian daily life. We're taking the boys away from the only home they have ever known in exchange for the chance to live in and learn a new culture. Butch is leaving a project that is "just about to get really exciting" for an opportunity to grow professionally...in Italy of all places.

At first, the choice really did seem simple enough. We expected change. We expected challenges. We expected stress too.

Now I have to admit, that I didn't expect the huge amount of stress on our children, or more specifically, our eldest, who happens to be only 5 years old. I didn't expect him to sigh so much or frown whenever he overheard us talking about Italy or the move. I didn't expect him to have accidents (of the tinkling sort) at school. I certainly didn't expect the phone call from his kindergarten teacher telling me that he had an emotional breakdown out of the blue. On the other hand, I did expect the call from the school's guidance counselor telling me that she would start meeting with him once a week, but only because his teacher forewarned me.

We made a choice that has impacted our and our children's lives more adversely than I could have anticipated. Was it a good one?

Either way, it is what it is. Despite the difficulties involved, I'm still holding on to the hope that the benefits will outweigh the costs.