In Which I Don't Have the Answers

Listen. There’s a lot I don’t have figured out. There’s a lot I thought I had figured out that has now been disrupted (looking at you, massive and unexpected plumbing bill). There’s a lot that hasn’t changed. There’s the work of connecting the dots.

I spent a lot of the day today trying to parse out next steps in navigating our visa applications. The system is notoriously difficult, and our situation is abnormal to boot. It’s not common for Americans to go to Portugal on a student visa. I’ve spoken with immigration lawyers who have never touched the visa at all. I’m working on gathering support—lawyers, real estate agents—to help me work out the details. They’re experts in a field that would be incredibly time consuming to parse through on my own. I’ll lean on their expertise.

I don’t have to learn immigration law while keeping up on a doctoral program on top of managing real life here (read: homeschool and move prep). It's okay if I don’t do everything. And even if I let go of these details that are stressing me out, I trust that it will come together right on time.