Holiday: Of Houses and Career Changes

My parents heard the bare bones of my Big Business Idea before I could talk to them about it. They heard it involves food and catering, but were unaware of the details. I filled them in, in installments.

So now they know. That we are thinking of making a life here instead of Australia. That things will change, a lot!, in the next year - God willing. That they may end up retiring sans family as strangers in a strange land.

My mom took to grilling me almost daily on my plans and goals. I didn't like it. I have yet to set them down, so am unable to defend my dreams and visions. Yes, I know it will take a lot of planning, yes, I know there are issues that I have to deal with and yes, we will need to move. But no, you don't need to start circling "flats to rent with at least 2 bedrooms" in the current newspaper. Yes, I'm aware my son has been sleeping behind the couch for 8 years, is nearly a teenager and needs his own room - it's something I'm aware of daily. Yes, I need to sort out my life.

I don't know why all the questions made me uncomfortable, made me want to walk out and not say another word. Perhaps because I haven't got a clear-cut plan this time. I need to sit down and talk with those who are involved first, and then I can plan. It's something we haven't had time for in the rush of entertaining family and going hither and yon. But the time is coming.

And then suddenly yesterday, when they have a mere 3 days left here, 2 of which will be with my brothers in Cape Town again, my parents up and decided they might like to buy a house. Here. Now. As an investment. After all, the exchange rate is 5 to 1 in their favour and a half-million house for us will cost them 100,000. Not bad.

So off they went to speak to agents and see a single house, which is The One - without looking at other options.

The plan is for them to buy and me to live there and pay enough rent to cover their bond. The plan is scary - bond-related rent is twice what I pay now before tax, will involve travel to work and after-care for my son, we lose our magnificent view and yard that encompasses an entire mountain, and we have to depend on an electric gate for our security instead of the good faith of a community on the hill.

It's not something I can do immediately - but buying a house is probably also not something that can be done immediately. Documents needed are on the other end of the planet, cash has yet to be arranged. Time has run out.

Out of all this has come a sense of change. A shift in the wind, a subtle shoving in a different direction - a right direction. The time has come to get up off the floor and walk toward a goal. To implement the practices that will get us where we need to be within a year. Everything is out in the open, under discussion, scrutinizeable.

I can no longer dream in the dark. I need to step out the door into the light and face the possibility of sunburn.

The future is approaching like a huge, chiselled-stone, rumbling sphere headed downhill (it sounds like a bowling ball on a rough concrete floor, but a whole lot heavier). I'm in it's path and must face it head-on. If I manage to dodge it, it will still flatten the grass and leave it's mark. And if I don't dodge it, I must ride it like a giant spice worm on the planet Dune.