How the heck did I end up here, anyway?

The time for Christmas 2011 was approaching. Not just any Christmas, but my first Christmas away from my family. I'm 33 years old and have never been away from my family during the holidays. I may not have always been with them on Christmas morning, but always made the trip within a few days. For someone that travels as much as me, it's funny to think that I had spent 31 of 32 Christmases in Wisconsin - one year when I was like 14 the whole family did Christmas in Florida. For all intents and purposes, this was a big one for me. Chrissy #33 in Australia (#34 will be as well, in case you're wondering).

Luckily, I have some amazing friends here in Australia! Not just in Perth either. I didn't want to face it alone, which wouldn't have been a problem with all the lovely people in Perth who invited me over to share their holidays. But with the office closed for 2 weeks (haha America!), I wanted to travel. Hence the trip to Melbourne (see previous blog), and then to Tasmania to see my friends Don and Jenni. Let me tell you a little story:

In 2008-09 the American economy had a major downturn, those were some tough times. I survived the cuts at work, but things still weren't great even after all the downsizing (and it was pretty hard long hours for the remaining). The firm offered voluntary sabbaticals to those still employed - many law and consulting firms offered this as a way to retain talent but cut costs during a slow time. (I thought sabbaticals were just for professors to write books?) Despite many family members and co-workers thinking I was crazy, I decided to do it. When else in my life would I be able to take an extended period off to travel while still getting a (small) income? (This was before I moved to Australia, mind you. This stuff just doesn't happen in the US.) So I took 8 weeks off, paid at 20%, with a guarantee of my job upon my return. July and August 2009 were a great time - spent with friends, family, my nephew, lots of time in Wisconsin on the boat, lots of gym time, in a wedding in Philadelphia, visiting NYC.....and most significantly, I booked a last minute trip to Spain and Portugal. 

In Spain, I met Don and Jenni, these crazy Tasmanians who were just a blast. We got along splendidly and made jokes about them setting me up with one of their sons. We also talked about how I wanted to work abroad, specifically in Australia but that it hadn't come to fruition (I had been in global mobility talks with Australia when the GFC first hit). In a random twist of fate, Don and Jenni had JUST met a man while vacationing in Morocco who also works for my company in Melbourne! We had a blast for those few weeks and have kept in touch ever since. And I got that guy's (Peter) contact details. I kept in touch with him via email, and he contacted me about a job in Perth a year later. Timing is sometimes bad but forces your hand and to decide what you really want - at that exact time, I had just accepted another job offer and was supposed to start within the month. I almost didn't respond to the Australia job, but I couldn't let the opportunity pass and ended up working it in my favor (although burned a big bridge with the other firm when I rescinded....oh well) and here we are. Isn't life just funny - although it wasn't funny at the time, it was extremely stressful! And it all happened really, really quickly. On a related note, I finally met Peter in person in Melbourne - and I paid for his well-deserved lunch!

That was a long intro into my blog about Tassie. But it's a good story about hard things turning out well, timing seeming bad but being good, exploiting tiny opportunities, small decisions having big outcomes on the direction of your life - that last idea is what the compass tattoo on my ankle is about, if you didn't know. So now you see why I had to go visit Don and Jenni! They are the link that brought it all together. So I boarded my flight from Melbourne and flew across the Bass Straight to Tasmania. More to come about the trip in my next post!

Don and Jenni in Spain 2009