Jen and I were recently talking on the telephone about how our first life together lasted about 5 years. We dated (only for a few months!), fell in love (instantly for me! She took some convincing, but I was relentless 💘), got engaged, and then hitched. The two of us adventured together while I worked and finished college, and Jen worked designing multitools. I am reminded of this era every time I see one of her tools on someone’s keychain (which happens all the time!)
We followed her career to China for a time, and then we followed my schooling to Maine. She pivoted to designing little electronic bits for hard-to-explain uses, including inside of cardiac pacemakers – again, I occasionally see her handiwork, when I order a chest x-ray on someone with a pacemaker.
That first life ended when we had our first kiddo and I graduated. Around that time, we were having dinner with some friends who had 3 little ones. We were feeling overwhelmed with just 1, and the mom’s advice to us was “you just have to let parts of yourself die.”
That scared us at the time, but she was right! In our second life together, we’ve had 3 young kiddos to pour our hearts into. We have swapped mountain biking for family hikes, nights out for nights in, self-centeredness for service to our little angels. We moved back home to the Pacific Northwest and bought a house. We signed petitions for more speed bumps. While my career revved up, Jen put hers on hold to do the noble and endless work of a stay home mom.
Now, in July 2022, that 2nd life is ending. The five of us (so much better than 2!) are starting a 3rd life together… One in which we’ll live all over the world, experiencing new languages, cultures, foods, homes, climates. Throughout the looooong recruitment process for the Foreign Service, we were only ever *somewhat sure* that we even wanted to do this. This week, it really clicked (for me, at least) that we’ve made the right choice.
Foreign Service orientation is interesting, busy, and easier than seeing patients all day. Has it only been 6 weeks since I cared for a patient?! It feels like much longer! I finally met the State Department MED crew, and those folks are as friendly and professional and smart as you might hope. They’re hiring right now, look them up!
Sitting down with the MED crew felt like a sigh of relief. I felt home, in a sense… like, “these are my people, speaking a language I know, seeing the world through the same lens I do.”
On another note, I got an ebike. It’s hot in DC, and infamously humid. I had this problem: a commute of 5-6 miles each way, and I need to arrive fresh in a suit. I don’t have a car here (yet), and even if I did, parking is a ridiculous $25/day (or $10/day, with a long walk). Riding the bus/metro takes 75 minutes and requires a lot of walking, because I don’t live close to a station. And I’ve bike-commuted for many years, but that’s too sweaty, and I can’t transport a suit back and forth in a bag (or could I 🤔)…
So I bought an ebike. It takes me about 20 minutes to get there and lock up, and because I’m not really working, and I have a breeze from the ride, then I arrive fresh enough. Until it RAINED ON THE WAY HOME TODAY.
I wish I would have bought an electric unicycle or a onewheel, because then if the weather turns, I could still take a taxi. Plus, I would have looked so dang COOL:
…and this is where I admit that JEN WAS RIGHT. The juice-proof suit is my best suit for riding around town in. It was clearly made for the purpose – I’m sure it was made for missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ (and I used to be one of those!) Thanks, Jen! I’ll never doubt you again! ♥