Three years ago we were wrapping up our month long family vacation in Denmark. While Bryan worked, the kids and I traveled all over Jutland. From Skagen, where the Baltic and North Sea meet to Ribe’s amazing viking museum. On the weekends we took the opportunity to visit the beautiful countries around us, going to a viking festival in Norway, crossing the bridge to Sweden, and dropping down to Germany to visit Bryan’s mission.
As we sat in the quaint cottage in Give, we talked about all the things we loved about Denmark and both came to the conclusion that this was a place that we could live. That our family could thrive. Bryan worked with his contacts in Lego to try to figure out how to move us here but it never worked out.
We had given up on the dream of living in Denmark and continued in our happy and predictable life in Connecticut then we were given the opportunity to move to Denmark. It came as a bit of a shock and excitement consumed Bryan and I as we wanted to jump right in. Living internationally was an amazing dream come true. To be in Europe where we could travel to so many places quickly and inexpensively would help us achieve so many goals.
But there was so much to give up. We had an amazing community, best friends to leave, and a beautiful autumn right around the corner. How could we leave all of that for something with so many unknowns.
There were a lot of sleepless nights. Many, many days of swapping back and forth. One day we both felt strongly that we should go then the next we felt it was better for our family to stay. It was very confusing and even as we didn’t know what to do, we had already begun to prepare for a move. We started going carefully through each room in our house and decided what we didn’t need anymore.
We called a realtor and she walked through our house and told us all the things that needed to change. All the things in our home that nobody but us would love. We cleared out more rooms, more closets. The basement was cleaned, then organized, then we went through and painstakingly sold our memories.
We loved the new paint. We loved how clean and sparkly everything was. Life felt lighter when we didn’t have all the clutter around. We looked around our old condo with new eyes and loved it. It was a beauty now. But we still listed it.
Bryan left to start work in Denmark. We felt sure it was the right choice but it didn’t feel any easier to know that. It still felt hard. The kids and I stayed to go to camps and finish up some work. The house was packed up and shipped. We lived on air mattresses and sleeping bags. Borrowed pots and pans filled one cupboard along with paper plates and plastic cutlery. The house was bare and empty. The morning the movers took everything I sat and cried in the living room. In the spot where our couch used to be. It echoed. We ate dinner in the spot where our table was. When I felt especially lonely I sat in the spot where our bed used to be in our bedroom. I’d send my loneliest text messages from that spot. Usually while Bryan was asleep in Aarhus. Then I’d go back down to the kids room and fall asleep. Wake up the next morning and put on my happy face and start the day again.
