My oh my! One month since my last post. I'm sorry I haven't written more but we're starting our journey in a few days and I've been busy!!! I'll try to recap the last month in a relatively short and sweet summary. This will be my last post until we are reunited with our things in India in a few weeks.
We finished up a wonderful month-long visit from Grandma Mir Mir around the beginning of the month, and Thumper was so sad to see her go. She soaked up the valuable time she had with Thumper, and I think they developed a truly deep bond. It's difficult for us, as we leave on this amazing adventure abroad, to accept the fact that Thumper will miss out on many family interactions he would otherwise get if we were content with settling down and living the American Suburban Dream right now. Don't get me wrong, living in a cute little 3 bedroom house with a garden and garage along with 2.5 kids, driving distance from the weekend family barbecues or other family gatherings sounds absolutely incredible sometimes. I remind myself that, when growing up, the relatives with which I felt closest were not always the ones I saw everyday, or even every year. They were the ones that valued their time with me, and respected me, even as a little kid. Thumper will know and love his family whether he is in India, Indonesia, Iceland, Ireland, or any other country around the world.
During the last week of Grandma Mir Mir's visit, I took my first NERC Reliability Coordinator Exam and, unfortunately, failed. I scored a 94 out of 125, and 96 out of 125 is passing. At that point I decided that I'd make Legs', Thumper's, and my life a nightmare for the next two weeks while I studied for a similar test, the NERC Balancing, Interchange, and Transmission Operator Exam, which I'd take less than two weeks before our departure date because I wasn't ready to give up on what I had worked toward for over a year while staying at home with Thumper. I had to take a different NERC test because there is a 42 day waiting period after failing an exam, and since it is a North American specific exam there would be no way to test in India. I crammed like crazy for those two weeks during the day when Thumper napped, in the evenings when Legs took Thumper, and also at night after Thumper went to bed. Exactly one week ago today I took the NERC exam and passed with a score of 105 out of 125! It was such a relief to pass that exam before we leave for India!
I'd love to finish this recap, but the movers are here!!! We'll be out of touch for a couple weeks, and the next time you hear from us we'll be on the other side of the world! I'll just have to get you all caught up next time.
Happy Travels!
Pancho
