Photo taken upon arrival in PR

The expectation was simple. You grow up, get a job, get married, buy a house and have kids. In our culture, as it relates to many others, this is considered the “perfect” life. To many, this may very well be and that is respected. According to the majority, my husband and I were on the “right” track given the purchase of our first house and the time invested in our professional careers. You can imagine the surprise when we first made the announcement about selling our house, leaving our jobs and traveling the world. Who are we kidding? It sounds ridiculous. Incredibly awesome, but ridiculous nevertheless.

Now, we would be lying if we said this decision happened overnight and we were planning delightfully until the date we took off. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was much harder than we ever anticipated it would be. Some days, we questioned the whole idea and prayed we would wake up without such a desire. I remember crying myself to sleep thinking I was crazy for wanting to do something like this. We loved our house, our jobs and the wonderful people we worked with. Saying goodbye to family and close friends was nearly intolerable. In the end, my husband said it best. “We believe God honors the desires of our hearts, so we have to trust that he gave us this desire in the first place.” Through it all, we saw this as an opportunity of a lifetime and we decided to do whatever necessary to make it happen.

For me, the desire to do something like this started a few years ago during my graduate program. I still remember the first time a professor, whom I highly respect, told me it was critical to see the world in order to gain wisdom. I thought the idea seemed unreachable and completely unrealistic. I began to mention the barriers as to why this would not work. My job, my fiancé’s job (at the time), my education, my family and the list went on and on. In an arrogant and rather poised tone, he said, “Just go. Stop making excuses. All of that will still be there when you return.” The idea still seemed illogical but yet appealing. After all, he had done something like this at one point and was now a worldwide respected professor who taught me more than any other teacher ever did. So, I began to contemplate it.

Are you familiar with a yearning desire to do something so bad, that you wish it would go away because it takes more energy from your mind and soul to continuously dwell on it? I certainly am. Through it all, I believe God put that professor in my life to plant a seed. A seed that has been growing and molding me for the past few years. The fact that my husband shares the same desires and wants to pursue the same dreams is not a coincidence. It’s perfect (there goes that perfect word again). God’s timing is perfect and I know he has something special planned during our travels. I don’t know if it will be for me, for my husband, for us, or for someone else, but I am looking forward to it and plan on enjoying it and living this journey to the fullest.

Despite the status quo, the truth is, you don’t have to be perfect. You simply have to be brave enough to live a whole-hearted life and fulfill your dreams. Being perfect means finding beauty in every color of life. Hence, our blog name. I hope you are inspired through our journey and follow us along the way.