2020 had done something to us. It shifted the way we saw everything. Time felt different. Opportunities felt more urgent. There was this quiet sense that if we didn’t explore what was out there, we might always wonder. My husband had been offered an opportunity in Switzerland before this. It made sense on paper. It was a good move. But something didn’t feel right. We couldn’t explain it, we just knew it wasn’t for us.
Then the USA opportunity came along. And this time, it felt different.
We didn’t want this to be a decision made by parents and handed down. This was going to change all of our lives. Every single one of us had to be part of it. Even if it wasn’t a full yes, there had to be willingness.
So we created our own way of deciding.
Everyone had to score it out of 10.
– 1 meant absolutely not.
– 10 meant let’s go.
We agreed on two rules. The total had to be over 40, and no one could be below a 6. No one gets dragged along.
We each wrote our number on a piece of paper, folded it, and dropped it into a cup. I can still feel that moment. The pause. The weight of it. The sense that something irreversible was about to happen. My husband opened them and added them up.
That was it. Our lives changed with that number. I often tell this story lightly. It sounds neat. Almost simple. What it doesn’t show is everything that followed. The tears. The doubt. The quiet moments where each of us, at different times, wondered if we had made the right decision.
Because emigration isn’t one decision. It’s a thousand decisions that come after. It’s a process. It takes time. It stretches you.
And even though we chose it together, we’ve each experienced it differently.
Some days have felt full of certainty. Other days have felt heavy.
But what has carried us is this- we chose it together. From that night, it became a family journey. Not always easy. Not always clear. But shared. And each day we remain on our family journey.
