It's really amazing to live a life that puts you in awe to simply be living it. To live in a place that you never imagined you could be; it's inspiring to be meeting people from around the world, and learning things you never would have otherwise known. Suddenly the world seems significantly smaller than it ever had before. Smaller but ever more full. The earth is packed and over flowing with opportunity, ideas, connection, and fulfillment. Anyone who says or believes otherwise is lying or being lied to.
I don't mean to sound ignorant of the undeniable pain and suffering that mortal life implies. I am so grateful to live such a promising life of privilege and prosperity. Because of the comfort and security my life has been built upon I have a huge responsibility to utilize every gift and opportunity that comes to me and become something much greater than I am now. Reaching my potential is no casual task. Pondering all the possibilities the future possesses is exciting, overwhelming, and hopeful but I keep getting hung up on the how that stands between current reality and the goals I would love to achieve. This mindset has thrown me into deep recollection of the past and wonder about the future. It gently settled over me as Mom expressed her realizations that the life we are living now was once just a hope, scrawled with anticipation onto journal pages, whispered about with close friends, and wistfully thought on in quiet hours. We believe in the Law of Attraction and that our thoughts are one of the most powerful forces that can lead and dictate our lives. Because of these beliefs Mom has always written down her desires, hopes, and goals. I first realized that there is in fact something to the often disputed philosophical idea of the Law of Attraction when we moved from Cache Valley Utah to Bountiful in 2011. A new job venture and financial difficulties warranted a change of residence. Mom and Dad started looking for houses to rent. Mom felt impressed to find something owned by a senior missionary (in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints members who are retired can volunteer to serve and teach for 18 months in another area of the world). In addition to that odd preference the list of criteria was this: Red brick, on the east side of the freeway, with a lake view. Also the price was considered.
Sure enough after a few month of searching we found the place. The owner was indeed leaving on a mission and it hit all of the other criteria as well. But not in the way we would have preferred. Although it was on the east side of the freeway like we wanted this house was the epitome of bad 70's design. Six colors of very dated carpet, half wall wood paneling, and a tiny square bathtub all combined to create very bad fengshui. Incase that wasn't enough, it was a split level. Mom and Dad tried to put their distaste away and look at the positives. It was just a couple blocks from the local elementary school, there was a very nice view of the Salt Lake from the back deck, and the rent was cheap.
We lived in that house for exactly two years. During that time Audrey started kindergarten. The local school, Muir Elementary, was launching a Chinese immersion program starting in kindergarten. In her abiding wisdom Mom enrolled Audrey in hopes that she would, thanks to the glories of youth, easily become fluent in Chinese. I asked Audrey what she remember's about her first exposure to Chinese.
"Well I was like four so I can't remember very much. It was a little strange and unfamiliar at first. Eventually I realized that the teacher doesn't speak English so I would listen and started understanding and the more I understood the more I would learn." Later Dad's work took us further down the Wasatch Front into Highland. We made sure to move near a Chinese immersion school for the girls. For the next five years Audrey and Paige studied with half day immersion and learned from tutors and other classes.
There were many times when mom would dreamingly present the idea of living somewhere where we could all be immersed in Chinese. With the same naïvety of a 5 year old planning on being an astronaut she would sigh, "I want to live in China!" And with the same plastered surprise of a loving parent the rest of us would nod our heads, offer some empty encouragement (oh yEah!, gee that'd be cool, etc.), and then disregard this interesting phase Mom was going through knowing full well she'd get over it soon.
Turns out Mom phases are a lot different than kid phases. In 2018, after years of hoping, dreaming, and earnest prayer it finally felt right. It was time to move to China. We researched other places to live in Western Asia in apprehension of communism and other common stereotypes that festered around the thought of China being our new home. Taiwan seemed to have good reviews and everyone speaks Mandarin there. But Taiwan uses traditional characters and Audrey and Paige had been studying simplified. Of course Hong Kong is very westernized so mainland China prevailed as the future stomping grounds of six tall mei-guo-rens.
Because China requires foreigners applying for a work permit to have a college degree Mom had to be the driving force in making this happen. She motored us forward (into possible impending doom) doing everything necessary to make her dream reality. She spent hours getting a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certificate that would allow her to apply for English Teaching Jobs. And then she had video interview after interview, hopes going up and down, feeling good about one gig and then second guessing everything. Looking back, it was a strange state of mind we were all in. We went about our normal summer activities not realizing the imperceptible disconnect that was taking place. We had to be ready for the news that mom got a job. We slowly started getting rid of our sickening accumulation of stuff, digitizing old family photos, and going through Mom & Dad's weird high school memorabilia. All the while checking out of the seemingly bland life we were living and tuning into the strange stirring feelings that were rising up inside. I'm not talking about gastronomical issues, no no. Those came later. I'm hinting at the indescribable thrill that came as I watched my parents work and pray and cry and break down in frustration because nothing was coming together. Heh that's not really what brought the thrill, no. It was watching everything come together after that.
It's been almost a year now since those crazy days and looking back at the past is almost as fun as looking forward to the hope of the future. We're noticing all sorts of things that have come to fruition. Mom always wanted to live someplace where she could walk everywhere she needed to go and take public transportation.
When Audrey started kindergarten Mom remembers writing down "When Audrey is in 6th grade we will live in a Chinese speaking country." She wanted the girls to be educated with local Chinese children and be fully immersed in the language. This piece of the puzzle was hard to work out. Local Chinese schools are hard to get into for local children. Plus the culture is so academically charged, the school we talked to wouldn't even consider enrolling two half-literate American girls who would bring their test scores down.
In semi desperation we enrolled them at Wickham international school which was such a racket. All the children were Chinese but many had experience overseas and spoke great English. Of course they had also picked up all of western pop culture's dirt and obscenity, and the poor leadership and organization made the environment even more unpleasant. Audrey and Paige's Chinese wasn't improving and their English was getting worse. Thankfully heaven intervened and brought us to a Waldorf school about 10 miles away. The people at this school are so precious and pure. Everyone speaks Chinese and both girls often express how their understanding and retention of the language has improved dramatically.
And the people we've met! Nothing could be more valuable than the connections we've made to so many knowledgable, successful, and passionate people. The list is long and growing. The expat community in China is special because whether you're from Congo or the UK, Russia or Peru simply being not Chinese gives you so much in common with that person. Our Branch family is tight knit and of course all hold foreign passports. But in addition to all our church friends we now have connections with people from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Canada, Spain, plus our dear Chinese friends. It's nothing short of incredible to be 18 years old and already creating a world wide network with absolutely stellar human beings. I don't mean to brag, only to emphasize the fact that the possibilities for growth and fulfillment are pretty much endless. Those opportunities are most easily found in the minds and hearts of others.
I'm remembering now one of the lamest Christmas breaks that ended up changing my life. Instead of hanging out with friends and riding my horse through the fresh powder snow during the holiday break we were going to clean college dorm rooms in Idaho. "To build character and help your Aunt" was the only argument Mom had to persuade us that this would be a better use of our time than leisurely wasting it away. Aunt Sorena was the manager of a cleaning company in Rexburg. Apartments and dorm rooms needed to be cleaned before the next semester started and thanks to the break just about every member of her crew had left. So we made hasty preparations to spend a week working our butts off. I brought along an old iPod nano which had about 100 of my old favorite songs but Dad insisted that he put an audio book on it too. I resisted because audiobooks are for old people and told Dad, "I probably wont even listen to it but if you really want you can put it on". Cleaning began and by the end of the first day those once loved songs had become the most irritating set of music that had ever been compiled. What was thirteen year old me thinking? So in desperation I clicked on the first section of the mysterious audiobook, Be Obsessed or Be Average. The voice of Grant Cardonne like a southern drill sergeant instantly captivated me as he told the powerful story of his past and explained how to earn success though visualization and hard work. Hours of scrubbing and dusting slipped by as my mind and heart were filled with the tools to a achieve higher way of living. I started writing down a vision for my life every day. Phrasing things as if they were currently happening in my life, feeding my future by exerting mental and emotional energy thinking about it. Not wishing but consciously imagining the life I want and living it, in my mind for a few minutes every day. And now I see, that's the key. It's works! Doors seem to keep opening. Now I just have to decide which ones to walk through.
Now it hasn't been such a great experience for all of us. The social isolation and shortage of athletic and academic opportunities has been understandably hard on Reese. In an unexpected turn of events he's decided to move back to the States and live with the Galloways (Aunt and Uncle Suzanne & Tom and their six kids). He's so excited to have an American high school experience and begin progressing in his basketball career. We will miss him very much. But there's no doubt he's off to great things.
I remember moving into the Bountiful house (the ugly one) and being so impressed that it had everything Mom wanted it to have. There was even this hideous wallpaper lake scene on the wall downstairs. It wasn't exactly the lake view mom intended but it was as close to the water as you can get in the mountain suburbs of Davis County Utah. I thought it was so amazing that everything mom wanted was manifest in that house.
And now here we are, so many years later, living the life she created. The baton is in Dad's hands now as far as what the next step is. Sailing around the world in a catamaran probably. But first we have to get fluent in Chinese. Until then we will dream and create and continue to live deliberately, chasing after the greatness that life deserves to be.
"Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build." —Robert Collier
"Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer serves you, grows you, or makes you happy." —Grant Cardone