John Lennon couldn't have said it better.
Our plans have been "stop and go" since Douglas flew to El Salvador in April. At the end of January I had just been lining up a 9 month sabbatical from my University position to begin at the end of February, busy keeping my eye on the prices of flights to El Salvador on the 'net, Douglas running around looking for a house for us on the coast and then "BAM" the opportunity of a promotion at work is offered. Now, let me try to convince myself again; with University positions comes tenure, security, benefits and perks - to be honest this has been an enormous - not the only, but definitely - contributing factor in our hesitation to pack up and move. The education of the girls has been the other very huge factor, when the girls are old enough to go to University, one of my benefits is that 90% of their tuition is paid for by the University! Yes, quite sweet!
Needless to say, it was a very difficult decision that had to be made. I was quite keen for the adventure of El Salvador, but surprisingly, it was my usually free spirited and "who gives a heck?" attitude husband that thought it might be better for us to stay up here for a bit and see how much longer the Immigration paperwork will take. So, I accepted the position on a 6 month basis & (will review the situation at the end of July); with travel plans modified, but still able to execute. I started this past Monday in my new position. My head is still swimming a bit with information overload!
I am so inspired when I read all these blogs of American women who pick up and move to Mexico or Honduras or elsewhere, when their husbands have been deported from the country or are awaiting Immigration decisions. There are so many challenges that they face and yet, they alter their lives forever by staying together.
I don't know if I have made the right decision, but I am relieved that 6 months will "buy" us a bit more time to see how quickly or not Guatemala City will process him. They received the paperwork at the end of November and our MP has said that they are apparently looking at the file again on March 2nd. Is this good news? I have no idea!
The girls and I fly out next week to El Salvador via Chicago and Mexico City. We have 6-7 hr layovers at both airports. Unfortunately, the indirect flights will make it a long journey to get down there, but the flights were a great price and I am a bargain hunter! We won't be back until mid-March, so Douglas can get a good look at his girls. It has been a long 10 months since he has seen them and they are soooo excited to be finally seeing him again.
Posts
