“Plan A” and “Plan B”

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21, NIV

So that you’ll know a little more about what we mean by “Plan A” and “Plan B” when we reference it, here are two explanations, the “nutshell version” and the “extended version” (where I tell you a little bit more about what I’m thinking and feeling).   

Nutshell

Plan A was our original dream.  It had us living in Spain for a full year and using it as a home base to explore Europe.  The goal was to immerse ourselves as much as we could in the city, find an apartment near the main park, participate actively in the local church, focus on practicing Spanish, and eat as much gelato as possible. :)  We wanted to grow some roots and cultivate some community.   

Plan B is our current plan and is the result of not receiving our visas.  Essentially, it has us still based in Spain but only for the fall and spring.  It involves a new dance, called the Schengen Shuffle, which involves meticulously counting travel days within the Schengen to ensure we do not violate the “90 days out of 180" law and face all the really not good consequences associated with an overstay.  It will find us spending January through the first part of April in parts of South America and Africa and then returning to Europe for some more shuffling from the second half of April through July. 

So that’s it in a nutshell.  If you want more, here’s your invitation to the extended version.  Come on in….

Extended Version

I’d been dreaming about Plan A for years.  When I first realized that it was possible to retire early, and as I did some soul-level work to separate my job from my identity (that’s a whole separate entry), a world beyond public education–and the cycle of a school year- quickly took shape in my mind and heart. 

The wanderlust that bubbles almost constantly beneath the surface of my spirit beckoned me toward a new season–one filled with exploration and adventure and flexibility.  

I dreamed of weekend train rides to European capitals, daily bike rides through cycling paths and green spaces, and not a few afternoon visits to some local cafe tucked away on the corner of a cobblestoned street.  I dreamed of emerging from the experience finally fluent in Spanish and filled with family memories that would forever inform our stories.

And then I floated the dream to Rachel.  And she embraced it (over time).  And then we floated the dream to the kids.  And they embraced it (over time).  And then we started making it real and booked tickets to Barcelona two years ago—to scout out the place we thought would be our destination.  

And it was awesome.  But it wasn’t quite right for us–a little bigger than we wanted and not as ideal for language learning as you might expect (Catalan is more widely used/displayed).  So we kept searching and reading and comparing and analyzing.  And then we learned about Valencia, and it ticked all the boxes: good church option, great weather, lots of green spaces, fairly easy access to the rest of Europe, and with more Spanish prevalence.  

So I went on a scouting journey last November and quickly knew this was the place.  This was confirmed after a great bike tour of the city, some fun wandering through the streets of the old town, and a promising visit to the local church I’d found while researching online prior to the trip. So after opening a bank account and taking a neighborhood tour with some local realtors we had met through the relocation service we’d contracted with months before, we were poised to move to the next step of applying for a visa.  

I could–and probably will at some point–write pages about the visa experience.  But suffice it to say it was completely draining and utterly disappointing. It began on January 1st and, after a tremendous investment of time and money and emotional energy, ended on July 10th with our third, in-person trip to the Spanish Consulate in NYC, during which time we were told that our appeals were denied.       

There would be no visas.  Plan A would not happen. That particular dream would go unrealized.  

We were angry and frustrated and crestfallen, but we were also thankful.  

After receiving the initial rejection in April, we had begun letting go—little by little— of all the specifics of Plan A.  We came to realize that we didn’t need the visas to travel and to have a gap year adventure.  We just needed them for the original dream.  But we believed-and still do-that if Plan A was not meant to be, then Plan B would be better.  

We had prayed for a clear answer (and, of course, that the answer would be yes).  We’d received just the clarity, but that was a gift.  

It left us with about three weeks to focus our full energy toward revising our itinerary, locking in an apartment, and finalizing the rental of our house.  (There was little serious thought to delaying our trip; we’d bought plane tickets months earlier for a great–and no longer available–deal, and our hearts and minds had been set on an August 1st departure for too long to just give it up).  

This launched us into the remainder of a somewhat frenetic July, a month that began with me moving out of my office and spending my final day as a middle school principal.  It was a month filled with decluttering and packing and finding the right renters.  We sold Rachel’ s car, scheduled as many get-togethers with friends and family as we could, including a trip to Florida, and did our best to rebuild our itinerary, with all the right Schengen Shuffle dance steps we could fit into 4.5 months (Plan B, Part 1).   

Plan B is a work in progress.  We’ve modified it further several times since departing on August 1st, realizing quickly that it involved too much movement.  We know it will keep changing as we learn about new places and settle into familiar ones, and as we keep striving to balance the seemingly competing desires of “staying and being” with “going and seeing.”  

Plan B is different than what we dreamed of, for sure.  But you know what?  We’re already seeing glimpses of how it might be better.  And we’re experiencing many of the moments that formed the original dream.  And for both of these realities we’re very thankful. 

More to say about that later; but for now, and as an example, I’m off for a bike ride through the park to pick up some things we’ll need for this weekend’s trip to Rome. :)