After decades of dreaming about living abroad and endlessly researching the many ways to go about doing so, my husband and I are now taking step after step towards making it a reality. And somehow, the closer we get, the clearer it becomes that in order to do The Schengen Shuffle we have to make peace with a world of uncertainty.

Technically, that was three strikes. But I wasn’t out yet. Even though my family was relieved every time I backed out of taking the leap to move abroad, the dream still hadn’t died.

As my husband and I prepare to take the leap abroad that I’ve dreamt of for more years of my life than not, we’ve been lightening our load.