Knock, knock. Who's there? Opportunity.

Eight months ago, depressed by the start of yet another "same old, same old" year, I made a New Year's Resolution to seek out a new direction for myself. On the advice of some very wise friends, I took my time on this project, waiting for the right opportunity to present itself rather than aggressively trying to hunt it down. "You'll know it when you see it," they kept reassuring me.

I wondered some days about the wisdom of this approach. More often that I care to admit, I was convinced that this year was destined to end up every bit as boring and uninspired as it began. But in the end, my friends were right. The year was half over before opportunity finally came knocking. But when it did, I immediately recognized and embraced the new direction my life would take this year. This one was worth waiting for.

It's official. Next month, my family and I are moving to London. Instead of a familiar, comforting and entirely too predictable start to yet another school year, this September will mark for us the beginning of an adventure which I can neither envision nor fully anticipate. My life for the next year or two will be anything but the boring re-tread I had feared it might end up to be. Whether that turns out to be a positive thing for me or not remains to be seen, but the knowledge that at the end of this experience I will return to my current life somehow changed is a welcome certainty. I'm excited and I'm terrified and I'm overwhelmed all at the same time. But mostly, I'm incredibly grateful, both for this opportunity and for the friends who encouraged me to wait patiently for it.

The beginning.