It all started when Judith received an offer to run the new BPO operation in Bulgaria that our CEO had set up, and after careful deliberation and shamefully looking up the map to see where Bulgaria is (its right next to Greece!), she was Sofia bound with me in tow. Not wanting to pass on this opportunity, we both dived into the challenge with the intent to make Sofia our new home for the next few years and to give it our all to make the company as successful as we possibly could. Sometime in 2010 we both realized that we needed a break and longed to get back to the US (having failed to make Bulgarians understand their language when we spoke it) and agreed that the best way to “let go” of our extended family of co-workers in Sofia and Varna (had to get Varna special mention in there) was to take a very long break from it all.
It has been a lifelong desire for both of us to take a road trip across the length and breadth of the USA and this just happened to be the best chance we could see in the foreseeable future to go for it. That, on top of being who we intrinsically are, we really did not have much of a choice but to go for it in a way that we normally would not have. The idea was not to plan out in too much detail but to have a general idea of the direction in which we are going to head each day with the intention of seeing things that are either fascinating or morbid, seeing places that boast either conventional beauty or unconventional… you get the picture.
This is a blog that chronicles some of the days of our somewhat eclectic adventures in 2011 which happens to be the year that we have decided that we will make the time to stand and stare and enjoy what is out there. It is the year that we get away from the day to day trials of business and frivolous necessity and go down a path of planned happenstance. With each post here, we think of our last 5 years in Bulgaria, of the wonderful people we have worked with and who have made us successful, of our friends and family spread all over the world for their support and how thankful we are to have had lived our lives in the company of you all and we think of our future and what we intend to do next.
This is something that would make Judith’s sister and father proud of us both after they have been watching over us for all these years from the afterlife and have always been there for us through thick and thin and getting us through mostly the thick of life over the last few years. This is something that we hope my uncle will ride along with us on as he fights his cancer on the battlefield of life… deep down there has always been a part of me that has wanted to be just like him when I grow up.
After all, going down a path that is fairly familiar and easy would neither bring the same feeling of fulfillment nor the same sense of achievement as one can expect to achieve while being purposefully jobless. Hence we set out on this voyage of learning, discovery and attainment without giving in to ritualistic reassurance or self realization, and invite you to all to ride with us and help us along the way through your comments on our little blog and chime in with suggestions / recommendations of places that we must see along the way – for Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra has been known to very wisely say “You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there”.
We now have time to stand and stare 