12 Years

When we met, I had just started graduate school at Temple University. My ambition was modest but noble. I intended to get a PhD and find a college in some quiet town where I could teach, write, coach youth football, have a house with a yard, and drive a Honda Accord.

The curriculum was so dull as to be unbearable. The culture shock of North Philly for an Idaho boy was severe. I looked ahead to four to six more years of it and it looked awful. Katie and I were soon engaged and when she said she wanted to transfer to her firm's Boston office, I immediately started looking for work, any work, in Boston. Anything to no longer be a student years away from a degree I wasn't sure I wanted.

Selling life insurance was what I could find. We moved to Cambridge, MA. We bought a condo. We could hear the crowd at Fenway Park if we opened the window. Before we had any furniture other than a TV, we sat on the floor watching the Red Sox come from three games down against the Yankees and listening to the live crowd cheer three seconds ahead of what we saw on TV. Awesome memory. I sold life insurance. It was hard.

Three babies and the accompanying stress, joy, anger, and education.

I switched from life insurance to mutual funds. We moved to Utah so I could get an MBA.

Two years of business school. We felt poor. We discussed, debated, argued, fought quite a bit about which job offers to pursue. It was hard.

We chose what seemed the most adventurous option. The Foreign Service. We moved to Virginia. When circumstances dictated that my first overseas assignment would be a year without the family in Pakistan, we wondered anew whether we had made the right career choice. I went to Pakistan. It was hard.

After Pakistan, I met up with Katie and the kids at Disney World. I was delayed a day getting out of Islamabad so Katie had some time there without me. During this time, she told some Disney staffers where I was, why I was delayed, etc. Oh, Disney. This staffer called ahead to our reservations and our fees were waived as cast members thanked me for my service to the country. Awesome memory.

Then we moved to Cairo. We were evacuated during the counter-revolution and even when were allowed to return, our movement was severely limited. It was hard.

Then we were moved to Frankfurt to complete my "Cairo" tour.

So far, we've lived in Philadelphia, Cambridge, Provo, Arlington, Cairo, and Frankfurt. Doing hard things has been easier than I would have predicted, mainly because Katie Hart is awesome. 12 years. Bring on the next adventure.