The Beginning

I am a born and raised Texas girl...although I use the term 'girl' with wishful thinking as I am a grandmother... that is 'MawMaw' to my grandkids.  My husband and I have been empty nesters for a number of years and are actually on the cusp of retirement.  One would probably wonder how an older couple from a small town in East Texas end up going to live in China.  Well, my husband, Michael, who has been with Texas Instruments for 27 years and absolutely hates to travel ..comes home one night in September and  as we are laying in bed... he says to me..'What do you think about moving to China for a year..or so? .  Although he expected me to tell him he was totally out of his mind... I completely surprised him responding with 'what a fabulous idea...when?' .  And that is how it all began...

Since my response took him by surprise, he now had to figure out whether he really wanted to go or not... he thought I would nix the idea and he'd be off the hook. WRONG! Once he knew exactly what they wanted him to do while he is there and he was good with all of that... now it was time to figure out the actual logistics of making it happen.  You see.. we are not selling our house or anything drastic such as that. We own a ranch and have built the home we plan to retire in.  Not to mention.. both our daughters and their families have built homes and live on the ranch. And we have rental properties and pets and the list is endless of what needs to be considered and decide what to do and who will tend to it in our absence.  My head was spinning. 

The most difficult discussion was still to come ...sharing this wonderful news of our adventure with our kids and grandkids.  So we call a family meeting.. our meetings were typically a discussion about upcoming work that needed to be done on the ranch... or discussing some new piece of equipment that needed to be purchased. So you can just imagine their utter surprise and reaction. Their first reaction is we must be kidding... this is so out of character for us that it can not possibly be for real... and then it sunk in... oh boy did they have a million questions.  Of course... the next thing our of Jennifer's mouth was ..what about Coco?.. she is our African Grey parrot... then what about Maggie?... our miniature dachshund... and then the other animals that live outside.. the dog, Shelby, and the cats, Clyde, Missy and Butch. And that is just the tip of the ice berg of questions that followed. 

It was the following day before the grandkids really understood what it meant for us to be going to China.  They are afraid we will like it and not want to come back.  The notion of a year is tough for little ones.  They are very used to having us within walking distance.. to come hang out or go do stuff with..or come to school and have lunch with them...or the millions of other things we participate in.

But in the final analysis.. everyone is telling us to go for it.  We will figure out the details and make it work.  It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to go to a foreign country and experience the culture.  And the grandkids want to know if they can come for a visit.. which we will definitely try to swing.

Over the coming days, I will try to get up to date on the activities that have been going on since we decided to go... it has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for sure....

As a sidebar... I have never done a blog before..I am not a writer... my career was in technology... specifically developing software...either doing it or managing it...so bear with me as I try my hand at blogging and share with you our adventure in China.