6.14.2014

Life Changes

I flew out of Johannesburg on my way back to Chicago. Jesse and Simone kept me company at the airport since it was a while until my flight. The beers we drank cost $1.30. I had such a good time on my Africa trip, and I knew that Lindsay, Jesse, and Simone were going to continue on. Keep traveling Africa and then move on to southeast Asia. I told them that I was going to go home and pitch it to Mitch. Simone said I might be surprised - he could say yes and we'd be seeing them in Asia.

Cut to:

Sunday morning, the day after I got back, Mitch and I were having unlimited mimosas with brunch. He gave me the news: he wasn't going to have his job back next year. It had been a rough two years for him, teaching in an underserved community in Chicago. Mitch is good at letting things wash over his back, not stick to him, but even so he had become a bit shell-like. Two mimosas in, I pitched it...

"In that case, why don't we leave Chicago a year early?"

Mitch told me I was still on a travel high, and that I should see what I thought about it after a week. Three days later we had pretty much made the decision to do it. 

My last day at work is June 27th. We'll be in Washington for a week then coming back to Chicago and moving around July 10th. We're flying from Denver to Thailand where we'll meet up with Lindsay, Jesse, Simone, and Lindsay's boyfriend, Mat. (Mat's the best.) Then from there we'll be going to Cambodia, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. (Staying with friends in Hong Kong and our former roommate, Bud, and his wife, Caitlin, in NZ.)

Mat and Lindsay

That trip will take us about six weeks, and then we'll crash in Fort Collins, Colorado for a while. We're moving in with my brothers. Planning on drinking some good beer. Nate gets married in mid-October, so the plan is to stick around until then. Mid-October to November, we plan on moving to L.A. 

Nate and Nick (brothers)

We don't have jobs lined up - my plan is to look for research administration-type jobs (like the one I have now) at hospital or university to get started in L.A. and then work my way towards writing for television. Mitch will do something, he assures me. We have some time to figure out what that is. 

Stay tuned. 

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