The Second Lap

For Dutch version click here

One of my favorite pastimes is running. Like most runners, I have a circuit I repeat quite often. My circuit I call a “rondje Zegerplas”, a run around a local lake. It’s a little of five kilometers.

Years and years ago, while running this circuit, a system of laps came into existence. It’s to be expected, I guess – if running isn’t going well, it’s easier to focus on the next bend than the end destination.

(as writing is also one of my favorite pastimes, these laps quickly received names. The Bay, Hill and Valley, Dead Man’s Dyke… that kind of stuff. I like to add to the experience J)

As time progresses, I’m starting to see that our emigration consists of laps as well.

You could also call them ‘phases’ or ‘stages’, but that doesn’t feel entirely right. This has to do with my background as a project management trainer. In the world of project management, stages are often seen as a control. Are we still on course? Should we go on without changing direction? You close one stage and you start the next one.

The transition from one lap to another feels more gradual; more fluid. It’s something that is planned – and at the same time it happens to you.

I’m experiencing such a transition as I’m writing this. 

On Friday, photos will be made of our apartment for its sale. That means a change in our efforts. The past few weeks we’ve been cleaning up and doing odd jobs. Smoothing, painting, redecorating, selling stuff online or giving it away; not to mention bringing stuff to the rubbish dump. Putting other things in boxes, labeling them and carrying them to storage. Now our apartment has been made tidy – quite some work if you consider we’ve been living there for almost 20 years! – that’s finished.

Something else that changes is how I feel about the process. When I wrote my last blog entry, I was still exploring what needed to be done. Almost every day something new came up. Sometimes, there were scares (“oh no – yet another thing to arrange!”) and also some frustration (“what have I gotten myself into…”).

Now, I feel more confident. Fewer new things come up. Many things have been set in motion, including getting the “Verklaring van Rechtswege”, which we need to live and to work over there.

Looking forward to lap 2…? I expect my focus to change. Until now, I was focused on our departure. I think I will be spending more attention to our destination from now on. Our ‘exploration’ trip to Curacao (or Korsòu, as the locals call it) in October is coming up pretty soon.

But as I said, a lap is not a stage. First, let’s pass that bend in the road. And see what the road looks like beyond that.