So, Okay, Not What We Were Expecting

We got word from New Zealand Immigration today that my visa was denied. Seems that recent cancer is an issue for a nation with socialized medicine, no matter how strongly the person who had the cancer believes she’s done. I understand, and Ian understands. We’re in Phoenix at the moment, because when our visas didn’t come through last week, we decided we really needed to leave our house on April 15^th no matter what, and by Seattle standards it’s already summer here (although it did rain during lunch today).

I was briefly angry—I mean, how frustrating to have someone declare you can’t do something that you believe you want to do! But then, after a delicious lunch of two large margaritas and some food, I felt better. Because the fact remains that we’ve rented our house, we’ve sold our cars, we’ve sold a bunch of furniture, and we’ve moved virtually everything else into storage, so we have some cash and basically no responsibilities.

And so, with the world our oyster (minus New Zealand, true), we’ve decided to spend the summer in Europe.

We’re leaving April 30^th, and planning to return to Seattle August 31^st. Where will we be? Who knows! What will I do? Could be anything! What will Ian do? Well, finish his dissertation, of course. He is going to apply for a different type of NZ visa, so it’s not entirely out of the running, but we’re not holding up our adventures waiting.

Life. Crazy, huh.