Small Steps and Giant Leaps

"Funny how fallin' feels like flyin' for a little while ... "

- Stephen Bruton/Gary Nicholson

View from Te Mata Peak

Like most of us, my life has been a series of small steps, one foot in front of the other, moving along a journey bounded by hopes and expectations. I have been fortunate, though, to have had many chances and opportunities to jump off the cliff and try to fly. There is no denying that has been a privilege of my upbringing and circumstances, particularly knowing that there was some semblance of a (threadbare) safety net to catch my fall. There have been times when it was scary nonetheless.

For the most part, I have landed on my feet, a little bumped and bruised for my efforts, but essentially intact. Occasionally, I have ended up much the same as Wile E. Coyote but without the ACME company and a bottomless line of credit to back me up.

It's been a little scarier since tying two more people to the same parachute, knowing that it might not open, but I have been lucky that at least one of them wants to jump with me. The other one (Little H), doesn't have much choice! She goes kicking and screaming at first, then usually wants to go again.

And that brings us to this blog ... and the next leap.

A few years ago, most likely in jest, Kari said to me "Why don't we go work in New Zealand." This wasn't just out of the blue. We get phone calls and emails on a daily basis trying to entice us to go work in such exotic locations as Nebraska, or trying to get us back to the frozen hinterlands of Iowa. Every now and then, the solicitation (never with much detail) is for somewhere outside of the United States. For a while, there were frequent invitations for New Zealand.

I probably shocked her a little when I said "Let's go." Her reply was something along the lines of "What, seriously?" and so the seeds of a plan were born.

Sunset on the Coromandel

We took a vacation to New Zealand to check it out and on our return started working in earnest to get back there. As happens to the best laid plans, there were a few bumps and curves along the way, not the least of which was losing my work contract and having to start my own company to keep us going.

After a few attempts and false starts, we are finally taking the leap. We are hurriedly trying to get our Stateside lives in some kind of order, because in about one month's time, we will be leaving everything familiar behind to live and work for a year in New Zealand.

This blog is also a bit of a leap. I'm not much of a sharer, and certainly never considered myself much of a writer. I will lean on Kari to add a few posts, and if the Little Highstead has something to say, I will try to help her to do so.

Up, up, and away ...