This story feels very personal. I’m writing it for the future me and our kids. This is a continuation of the past few stories since my wife Allyson’s passing in late 2024. Read on if you would like.
I am approaching a major crossroad. In a month my younger son will be moving away to college. I am half a year from my goal of moving back to Taiwan.
While I have been steadily downsizing the house and gifting away inconsequential “things”, soon I will have to start getting rid of real things, like the furniture and things we actually use. The rubber is about to hit the road.
Doubt enter my mind. What am I doing? Am I crazy? Am I really going to sell the house and move to Taiwan? Am I doing the right thing? What about the kids?
Whenever I need an answer, I go to the source of my strength and clarity, and that is, I would ask Allyson.
If Allyson was still here, there could be two versions of this story.
In Version one, Allyson is healthy and cancer free. We would most likely move to Taipei. We would rent an apartment in the city, near her favorite district of Dongmen, the East Gate of old Taipei. She could enroll in Mandarin classes at the nearby university. I would take her for breakfast on the way to class, then pick her up after, and perhaps dinner joined by her new classmates and…