On 20-11-2017 we were married for 12.5 years and for Dutch people this is usually a reason to take a moment to celabrate, so we wanted that too. For both our parents that was the to throw a party for friends and family. We didn't feel like it and decided to take our children and grandchildren to our beloved island Tenerife.
It was finally February 2018 that we actually left. We had a wonderful week in the sun with them and we stayed another week.
For many years we went to the peninsula of Spain every year with a car and caravan in spring or autumn and to Tenerife in the winter. The sun, the people, the relaxed atmosphere and the nature always touched us. We have seen a considerable part of Spain in those years.
And every holiday it happened at some point that we said to each other in a beautiful place with a great view: You would live here!
You would live here!
And also in that last week, we were in a beautiful place with a great view and we said to each other: You would live here!
Would you really want that?
Well, uh, I don't know, it would be cool I think, and you?
Yes, it seems great to me, much more relaxing.
And the fantasizing starts;
Closer to nature.
Closer to ourselves.
Something for ourselves, being our own boss.
On a mountain with a great view. With our own swimming pool.
In a wonderful climate, lots of sun, lots of light.
We became more and more enthusiastic about it. We felt inside us that it could be really great. It made us happy.
But............
Is that possible? Is it financially possible? What do our parents think about it, and the children? Can we let go of the Netherlands? And the children and grandchildren? What are we going to do there then? How do we earn our money? Camping? B&B?
And where then? Tenerife, the north of Spain, or the south? Do we dare to take such a big step?
People usually do not regret the things they have done, but they do regret what they wanted to do but did not do.
Was this really a deep desire in us that we had to follow? But what about all those questions and buts that came to mind?
We decided to find out.
If we had found out everything and then decided not to do it, then we could never regret it.
We would take a year to get all the questions answered and during the year the following metaphor emerged:
We climb the high diving board together and the higher we get, the more overview we would get. Until we would be at the end of the diving board.
And then we would decide whether or not to jump. And it would not be a shame if we calmly went back down the stairs and just continued to live our wonderful life in Amsterdam for perhaps the rest of our lives.
On that holiday in Tenerife we had taken the first steps to the high diving board. We had a feeling inside us that made us happy at the thought:
You would live here!
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