Everything Happens for A Reason

I really hope the phrase, "Everything happens for a reason" is true because it has been a whirlwind the past couple weeks for Todd & I. A couple weeks ago, Todd told me that his senior manager at work asked him if we were interested in moving to Japan in the fall for 2 years. My immediate thought was no. We would just be married for a couple months, I'd have to leave my job and teaching spinning, and we'd live halfway around the world where we'd only know 1 other couple from Todd's work and we wouldn't speak the language. We had about a week to decide if we wanted to go. The more information & details we got, I slowly started to change my mind and became super excited about moving to Japan. We'd be living in Utsunomiya which is just north of Tokyo and I'd even have my own Japanese teacher that would help me learn the language and navigate the city. Oh, another big plus, I wouldn't have to work for 2 years! We'd also be able to travel the world; Todd & I were thinking of going to Australia, Thailand, Fiji, etc. and I had grand plans of running the Tokyo Marathon and climbing Mt. Fuji.

Map of Japan (Utsunomiya is just directly north of Tokyo)

Within a couple days, I had done a total 180 and was 100% on board for moving to Japan. Granted, it would be difficult to be away from all of our friends & family but we were excited to begin our lives together with such an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We were pumped and I was beginning to count down the months until our adventure. Unfortuntately (and ironically), the day Todd told his boss we were interested, was the day of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. My heart goes out to everyone affected by the disaster and it was obvious by the end of that day, our big plans were not going to happen. In fact, the people currently in Japan from Todd's company that had just moved there last fall (as in 4 months ago), were permanently reassigned back to Ohio. It was very disappointing to learn we wouldn't be able to go but at least we weren't just getting adjusted to living there and then forced to move back (especially since I would've quit my job!). Hopefully since this opportunity didn't work out, that means there's something bigger & better on the horizon for Todd & I. Because like they say, everything happens for a reason.