There was a time when emigrating to Portugal seemed impossible. The Portuguese Consulate in San Francisco was shuttered, as was much of the world in the first six months of the pandemic. It seemed for a time as if the two years of planning and research—the closing down of our home in California, giving away everything that would not be packed up in a few suitcases—might all be for naught. Eventually the Consulate reopened, visa applications were exchanged, airline tickets purchased, and one day at 4:30 am, we locked the door to our apartment for the last time. The next afternoon we were opening the door of an apartment in Coimbra—opening a door to a home in Portugal for the first time. When asked now if I plan to return to the United States it seems unimaginable that I could do so—unimaginable that I could abandon the strange and beautiful journey I am on.
Eternal Horizons
Eternal Horizons
Eternal Horizons
There was a time when emigrating to Portugal seemed impossible. The Portuguese Consulate in San Francisco was shuttered, as was much of the world in the first six months of the pandemic. It seemed for a time as if the two years of planning and research—the closing down of our home in California, giving away everything that would not be packed up in a few suitcases—might all be for naught. Eventually the Consulate reopened, visa applications were exchanged, airline tickets purchased, and one day at 4:30 am, we locked the door to our apartment for the last time. The next afternoon we were opening the door of an apartment in Coimbra—opening a door to a home in Portugal for the first time. When asked now if I plan to return to the United States it seems unimaginable that I could do so—unimaginable that I could abandon the strange and beautiful journey I am on.