The past 6 months have been a blur of anxiety, anticipation and adrenaline. After months of networking online, applying for jobs, and even considering a return to school on a student visa, Austin and I decided to pivot and create a new plan.

By July, we’d applied for visitor visas, which will allow us to travel to New Zealand and live for up to 3 months with the option to extend for good reason. Feeling confident in our connections and trusting our gut, we began settling our affairs and set a date for departure – August 28th.

It’s funny how time can move so slow for so long, and then suddenly someone hits the fast forward button. Looking back at this month, all I can see are blurry images of us packing, selling, moving, crying, laughing, screaming, sleeping, stretching, driving, reading, hoping and wishing. I have felt every emotion all at once, and yet often I have felt nothing at all. And if I am being honest, I find myself welcoming that emptiness at times. It’s as if my body occasionally returns to its factory-setting to avoid overheating from the maelstrom of anxiety finding its way to every nerve ending in my body. The stress of this experience has been physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting and has challenged us in every way we could have imagined.

Our last week in Sioux Falls was spent frantically posting curb alerts for “FREE STUFF” on Facebook, re-painting nearly our entire home in a manner of days, hosting a garage sale in 95* heat, and squeezing in hugs and good-byes between icing my inflamed back and desperately seeking sleep.

So with zero doubts and anxious hearts, we packed up the UHaul and said farewell to Sioux Falls. As I turned onto the interstate ramp towards Minneapolis, one of my mom’s favorite songs played through the speakers and I smiled as I heard Sheryl Crow say “All I wanna do is have some fun, I got a feelin’ I’m not the only one…”