Tale of two

We are all conditioned to have only one thing in our lives.

/one school
/one career
/one home
/the one

But lately I have been testing the idea of living in two places. I love living on an island off of the snow-capped mountainous, seaport city of Seattle.

I am lucky and could not ask for more. Except for another breathtaking city.

Adulthood allowed me to challenge most of my assumptions. That is probably the only reason I fell in love with Lisbon. A mixture of greed and awe came over me.

Steep ceramic hills, ocean mist, subtle spices, people of all types. Major cities are horrible for living comfortably and affordably, and in this case, the bureaucracy was tear-worthy. I knew the negatives, but I didn’t care.

I only saw the potential. The ability to walk more with my kids, try new everything, interact with a lot more cultures than just Portuguese, and slow down life considerably with coffee that is meant for relaxation, not productivity.

So I begin my journey to spend part of the year in another city half way across the world. The logistics alone would have prevented my old self from even imagining it. Now I see every painful administrative task as a step forward into exhilaration.