Only the Beginning

Most of you know how this all transpired – if not, if you read my previous blog posts from Uganda you will get a sense of what sparked this journey. Madison is essentially making a dream of mine come true by taking on a job opportunity with a social enterprise, Honey Care Africa – selling beehives to farmers to eventually bring them above the poverty line. While we were visiting friends in Kenya in February, this opportunity presented itself and we both instantly knew from deep in our hearts we had to jump on it. Madison was shocked how easy it was for me to come on board, but then again, he knew this was in my blood as much as it was in his. It took us from February to mid-June to solidify all plans and then we began to tell our families, friends, and co-workers our exciting news. Without fail, Madison and I successfully made the transition out of Denver to Kenya. Now, here we are.

We arrived on August 4th – referendum day for a new Kenyan constitution. I was a bit leery about arriving on this day (we realized it after we booked our tickets) as the last time there was a vote – riots broke out. However, this time, all remained peaceful and the majority of Kenyans were pleased with the vote. The following day was a public holiday so all can relax as the votes are tallied and announced. Why don’t we have a day like this in our country? Everyone we meet comments that we arrived on a very auspicious day – I am taking that as a sign that we made the right decision by moving here.

I think it’s starting to finally settle in that we are here for more than just a mini vacation and that I won’t be immediately returning to my full-time job and life in CO. It will almost be a month since I resigned from my pediatric physical therapy position – but a part of me still feels as though I will be returning to it. I am sure time will help reframe my thinking – as well as when my bank account starts to realize it won’t be replenished with monthly paychecks.

As many of you know we moved our belongings from Denver into a 10x15 storage unit in NJ – everything just about fit. Part of negotiating our Kenyan adventure with my large, close-knit, Italian family was to move back to NJ after we have lived out our dream here. That may be a bit exaggerated, but at least it made telling my family a lot easier as they will have us back there in just a matter of time – something I am sure they were not expecting to see this quickly – but it was always in our plan.

As I start to settle in here, I keep thinking how it was almost too easy to “physically” (not as easy emotionally) pick up and leave the country. Granted we had about 5 months to mentally plan this out, it still makes me feel sort of weird to cut-off all physical ties with Denver (leaving the security of my job and health insurance, our residences, our car, our cell phones, etc). As we start to live our lives here, it’s almost like I am creating a new identity for myself and it feels relieving to not have all of those physical attachments. Of course leaving family and friends was the hardest and most challenging – but knowing we have everyone’s support made this transition a lot less emotionally painful – thank you!