It was just another weekend in November. Thanksgiving was approaching, soccer games were over for the day. Josh and I were laying around on the couch. And I said, “is this it?” There we were, two 40-yr olds, stressed out about work, exhausted from running around with the kids, but generally happy. We considered ourselves an adventure family. We met with a shared loved for rock climbing, travel, action. How could we get more of that?
“Why don’t we quit our jobs and travel around the world for a year?” Yup. The gauntlet had been tossed. Pick three countries, live there for four months each, home-school the kids, this could be amazing.
A week later, the sheen had worn off of the vagabond family plan. Home school? Hard work and isolating. Endless logistics. Fear of weird medical stuff. Ok, version 2.0. Let’s go to Europe.
Italy was the lead contender for a variety of reasons… Turin (or Torino as the Italians call it) became the lead city because it 1)close to mountains and coast 2)great international school 3)big enough to experience city life 4) semi-plausible career exploration for Josh 5) and it was an ultimate success when we went there last summer.
The applications went in to the international school. The kids were admitted. By Christmas time in Yosemite, at a breakfast in the Ahwahnee Hotel, we had a done deal. We were moving to Turin, Italy.
And that is how a family decides to move to Italy.