You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

People keep asking me, What if?

What if Seville isn't the right city? What if you don't like the weather?  What if you give away your things and then miss them? What if you just played tourist for a while and then came home?  What if you move to Spain and decide you don't like it? What if it's too different? What if the dollar should weaken even more?

What if something should happen to you?

Regarding the last "what if," there is a much more serious question to be asked.  What if NOTHING should happen to us?

BROTHERS

To be honest, the question that weighs on me the most is:  What if my mother or my brother should need us? But, we won't be much further away than we are now (California to New York... Spain to New York). My brother has a wonderful group-home/independent-living situation. The apartment is managed by AHRC, an exceptional organization staffed by exceptional human beings.  He has a good life in NY.  He usually flies out to visit us on his own once a year.  But, he and my mother are now planning their first visit -- together -- to Spain.  She'll give him the help he needs getting through customs and he'll give her the help she needs with her bags.  And they'll have one another's company.  Their first visit is something exciting to look forward to. My brother would prefer to visit us in Vegas (even though we haven't lived there for a year and a half)... or else someplace with a professional baseball team. We'll have to get him hooked on soccer.

As for the rest of the what ifs:
We plan to love Seville. We plan to be very happy living in Spain. We plan to do a lot of train travel. We plan to enjoy our new adventures. We plan to be healthy. If any of these things turn out to not be the case, we will plan what we want or need to do next.

FUDGE FACTOR

 So many people are worried about our money. I worry about our money, too. I have always worried about our money. I have worried about it when we have had a lot and I have worried about it when we have had a little. But, so the other worriers in our lives will relax a bit, I can tell you we have very carefully planned this move. We have planned and diligently developed a budget (not something we're known for -- budgeting, that is; we're great at developing plans) and we know exactly how much we'll have and very nearly exactly how much we'll need. We have built in a major fudge factor -- sorry for the highly technical financial terminology -- for the ups and downs of the exchange rate. In short, we are financially prepared and will be able to live very comfortable lives.

Despite the title of this post, we do have parachutes. So, stop worrying about us. If all else fails, my mother says she can tolerate having us in her apartment for a few weeks. Then, we'll just move into Linda and Tom's basement in South Dakota. They already have a space heater.