The Why Before the How...

Join me as I re-patriate myself from Bali to Colorado, USA. Topics to be explored (not limited to): How much will I miss bugs and snakes? Will I leave my first sub job crying? Stay tuned!

If you know me, you know the story of how I uprooted myself from Colorado in 2011 and moved to Bali with little notice, planning, or forward thought. I’ll touch on the details of this move throughout this adventure. But for now let’s start with where I am and where I’m going.

Currently I’m a wedding celebrant in Bali.

Sexy job, huh?

Oh so many questions - what is a wedding celebrant? What do you do? That’s a job? Oh you must be joyful all the time?

Long story short: I started a small wedding-related company in Bali in 2014 in an effort to maintain my humble lifestyle while enjoying this incredible island. YES it’s an outrageously marvelous job, in an amazing setting. YES Bali is spectacular. Yes - I get to help people celebrate one of the glorious milestones in their lives. So much YES!

But the unfortunate truth is that even if you eat cake as a job, cake eating eventually becomes a lot more than just a job, and too much cake can make you sick.

Fast forward to 2020 - COVID. Wah-wah. Sorry folks! The island is closed!

This is yet another story, but COVID in Bali was equal parts magical and devastating. Imagine having a small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean to yourself (well, with about 3 million others) for a year and a half? Few people in or out. No plane noise overhead. Empty streets and beaches. Queues for shopping non-existent. Amazing deals on hotel stays and stay-cations for those of us “stuck” here. AND not having tourism to support any of it. Destination weddings, along with tourism, came to a screaming halt. All of us expats who built companies here were left wondering “what do we do?” while locals were left wondering “how will we eat?” It was grim, slim times.

Many people died. Many people left. Some people persevered, re-built, re-vamped, re-invented, en re-opened. My company, thankfully, was one of those that was able to survive and come back with a BANG that, those of us who survived agree, was like drinking from a fire hose.

Fast forward to 2023. STRESSSSSSSSSS. All of us in weddings felt it, dealt with it, and handled it in different ways. For me, it was a year of anxiety and uncertainty (mostly that I had the energy to get through it!). And then it became a year of the unexpected, with my mother dying suddenly in July after a short illness.

Many of my friends lost parents throughout COVID and in the time since. Many of us have lost others who were dear to us since then. But losing someone you love, who is on the other side of the world, with those you care for most and who care for you most also on the other side of the world, is a feeling I cannot describe. I sleep walked through the rest of July, August, and half of September’s weddings (22 weddings!) until I was able to travel back to the US for my mother’s memorial in September. It was the kind of family time we all needed, in the church of our childhood, with so many familiar faces turning up to celebrate the impact my mom had on us all.

We all miss my mom, but my father does the most, of course. After the memorial I spent about five days with my dad in my parents’ house, helping him clean out my mother’s clothes (she ALWAYS dressed to the nines!). But most importantly, after a long time abroad, I spent uninterrupted time with just my father, in his space, and we got to know each other again. And after that my mind was made up: it was time to go back to the US.

A collection of wild and wacky (and maybe sometimes boring) stories will follow, chronicling my adventures and mis-adventures as I get myself and five of my furry friends back to Colorado.

We have a lot to do and a lot of re-adjustments to make. Right now I’m excited but a bit sad - emotions that will morph and change over time and with experience. I hope sharing these will help all who read it understand how different life can be; what a limited lens we all see it through; and how that lens can change and shift with time.