2AmericansTravel: 3 Inches of Karma

"Hey look at this inchworm! It's on a garbage can. What are you doing little buddy?"

Jeremiah proceeds to pull a tiny lime green inchworm off of the side of a garbage can in the shopping center of North Hills.

He places it on the tree nearby, "There you go!"

Having a quick scan around we find 2 more inchworms in odd places where they will likely get stepped on by shoppers or actually get thrown away. These are the small acts of kindness that I love in Jeremiah. Literally no one else I know would have pulled a tiny bug off of a trash can to save its little life.

Smiling at him I laugh, "Well, there you go universe, we've just gained 3 inches of karma!"

Now I'm sure you're wondering how on earth this silly story relates to a huge move overseas... and I'm getting there I promise.

Packing up and moving again, I felt a huge sense of déjà vu. We've certainly done this before - sold off the car, the furniture, packed up everything we own, and made the difficult decisions about what will and will not go in our 4 checked bags. It turns out camping gear and clothing is what we deemed worthy, along with some jewelry and make-up to meet my need to feel pretty. I am not ashamed to say that I had a minor break down when I realized that I couldn't fit all of my snazzy boots and dresses into my suitcase... something I can already laugh at.

It's true that we've done this move before, but everything feels different. For one thing we are not jumping to the other side of the world with no friends, jobs, or clue as to where we will live. This time the path is much clearer. We have amazing community support, Jeremiah already has a job offer, and we know we will live in Nelson - there's really no comparison. Of course that doesn't really make the goodbyes any easier. I'll skip over those sad moments because lingering on the tears is not what I do. So instead I'll focus on the fun we had with friends and family in that last week. Our whirlwind of a move included beach walks and dinners with the family, barbecues, a wedding, and an amazing engagement of my best friend! So many great memories certainly outweigh any sad ones.

Congrats to Liz and Nick! She said Yes!

So, we had 3 inches of karma to spend, and 3 legs of flights from Raleigh to Nelson... I think you see where I'm going here.

On our first plane, we used our first inch of karma. Our 5 hour flight to LAX had no one in the seat between us!!! Score! The usually uncomfortably cramped flight was smooth sailing with all the movies you could watch for free. Hop off and hop on and we are on leg 2 of our journey. Once again NO ONE IN THE MIDDLE!! This is amazing! 13 hours is a long flight and just being able to put my feet up in the chair next to me and actually lay down for an hour of light sleep made all the difference. So thank you to our second inch of karma. Our 3rd inch of karma came on the final leg of our trip from Auckland to Nelson. It's a rather short flight and we were just settled in when the flight attendant came up to us and said "Mr. and Mrs. Steff? Here are your waters and your chocolate muffins." I could have laughed out loud as I looked around and realized that we were the only people on the flight provided any kind of snack! Now I'm sure this was somehow part of the package ticket that we purchased, but that chocolate muffin was warmly welcomed.

Moral of the story? Next time you are going on a god-awfully long flight, save a couple of bugs and see if karma gives you an extra inch.

We've been in Nelson a full week now and the feelings of déjà vu are complete. It was so easy to slip back into our lives here that it almost feels like we never left. Of course there are changes which become obvious as we delve deeper into the community. Changing relationships, growing children, and shops that have opened or closed since we last set foot in this town.

Since landing, we have settled in with cars, bikes, jobs, and the works. We've also managed to squeeze in some ultimate frisbee, a salsa dance night, and a crazy night of 7 after 7:00. We were roped into 7 after 7:00 by our friend Zander who accurately described it as a 5k scavenger hunt race. It was wet and rainy, but we had a blast searching for prominent Nelson statues, the McDonalds golden arches (called "Maca's" by the kiwis), and the most interesting piece of trash we could find.

With us constantly being on the go, it's great to have this rainy day to take a moment and write. More to come soon. To all those we are missing, we send our LOVE to YOU!