"The only way to move on is to move out and to move away." #ruthiliciousHindsight
Last year was a rollercoaster ride.
So I stated with the cliche -life's journey but what I really meant was... the idea of moving and not staying in one place for a long period of time is aways a welcome thoughts in my fickle-minded mind.
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PAUSE!
I drafted this post on July 8, 2022.
I only typed the first two lines. And obviously I was redundant because I realized that there are probably more than a couple of blogs here that started with that "quote".
Anyway, today is the 21st of March, 2025. So let's continue where I left off.
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I am actually planning to blog about my 60th Birthday Celebration but as I logged-in to this blogger account, I realized that there is a post that I already started 3 years ago. Some people may not understand my present predicament but having an "obsessive-compulsive disorder" (it's a self-diagnosis that I like to use because it sounds fancy), it's a struggle to start something new when I haven't finished what I started years ago.
Now the challenge is... I need to recall what that - life is a journey - thingy that I was going to talk about.
Three years is a long time. At my age now, I don't even remember what I had for breakfast this morning nor did I actually had breakfast at all. But I'll try my very best to come up with something to justify my thought process during that timeline or just wing it. Maybe, I'll get some clue from the twelve thousand photos I took during my 8-day long drive to the west coast.
So here we go.
After my brother Japol left to join Mom and Dad in paradise I succumbed to overwhelming grief and depression. My only recourse was just to leave Maine for good. Although the decision was not split-second or impromptu, it felt likewise. After a couple of months of contemplating, researching and more researching, I decided to leave and move to the west coast.
The decision took a lot of effort though. I had to consider a lot of things in choosing the state where I want to reside. Long story short, I ended up in Washington State. I will not bore you on the details why Washington. I might come up with another blog about it. Who knows? I might find the time to write about it too.
So decision was made and the preparations for the big move started right away. After I sold, gave away, threw and who-knows-what I did to the rest of my belongings that I accumulated over the last 15 years living in Maine, I packed the remaining 10 percent of that earthly possession of mine, said my goodbyes to my friends and drove 8 days to Washington.
And I never looked back.
I left behind all the painful memories and brought with me only the happy ones. I said goodbyes to all my loyal fanbase (lol) and dearest friends who became my family. And most importantly, I left with a hopeful heart and strong faith in my decision for change.
Fast forward to 2025... It has been quite a journey both literally and figuratively. I found a home where I feel safe, a job that I love and new like-minded people who became my friends. Life is good and Washington state is my re-starting point for my (re)new life here in the United States.
Job wasn't hard to find. I got hired right away as a Pre-K teacher on my first year. The next summer I became a part-time Pre-K teacher when I got hired as Para-Educator 3 in Bellevue School District. I also found new friends and co-workers who then became family.
Since then, I have travelled to 5 different countries and spent every summer in the Philippines and Hong Kong. I spend Christmas in Victoria, British Columbia since then. In hindsight, I been traveling more often here than when I was in Maine. In my 15 years of living there.
I can say at this point, that my decision to move to the west coast is one of the best decisions I made. Though I can't deny the fact that everything is temporary and my journey is still unpredictable, nevertheless life is full of surprises.
Although, I don't even know if I want to stay here for good or I want to go back to the Philippines or move to another state or country, I'm pretty sure that I'll take things one at a time and just go with the flow.
And for now, I am happy where I am and I just need to keep the faith.
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