Travel Tuesday: A Pivotal Moment

I grew up in the high mountains of Wyoming in a small, insular town. I was the third generation of my family to live there. My world expanded quite a bit when I went to university at BYU in Utah. When my husband and I made the decision to move to Sweden so he could go to grad school, my world was rocked and it has never been the same.

I went from being deeply rooted in place and family to being rootless in foreign country where I didn't fit in.

I traded life-long connections for newly forged friendships.

I traded the security of extended family to learning how rely completely upon my husband.

I traded comfortable opinions and experiences for being challenged with new ways of thinking.

I traded the consumerist culture of space and excess for a minimalist existence.

I traded skill and certainty with my own language to learning a new language and botching it frequently.

I traded being shy and holding back to pushing myself to explore and do new things.

I traded permanence for the transitory.

I traded guarding my heart carefully to breaking it wide open to learn to love new places and people.

I trade complacency for curiosity.

I traded being tied and rooted to a place to being rooted to my husband and children.

I traded the high desert mountains for the lowland plains and beaches.

I traded the brash newness of America for the history of Europe.

My heart and life changed so much that I feel like a stranger when I return to my hometown. I am okay with that because I feel like I gained far more than I lost.

Have you ever made a big change in your life? What happened? 


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