So we are about to go do something crazy. I know because my parents have told me so.  I can’t say that I blame them though since I know exactly where they are coming from. Many nights before leaving I thought about all the things that could go wrong too.

What if this does not work out?

Are we doing this for the right reasons?

How will Isaac adapt to being uprooted from everything he has known?

Will I have the courage and the humility to acknowledge that this was a failed experiment?

What if this does not work out?

Like many people, I grew up thinking about how best to survive. And for a lot of us, surviving meant doing what everyone else is doing around you. It’s an evolutionary adaptation. I was programmed to think about how to not take any unnecessary risks. My whole life I practiced caution for the sake of surviving.

But when Isaac was born 9 years ago, I had a small spark kindled. I realized that maybe I wanted something different for him. I know all parents think their kids are special and I was no different. I wanted him to become more than me. For him, I wanted a life not just based on surviving, something more than just doing what has always been done.

And maybe the lesson I want to leave Isaac with is that he should not settle for just surviving. Contentment or happiness can never be attained by someone who is just surviving. Besides, I love him too much to have him settle for what I have settled for.

Yes, things can and will go awry. My parents and society are not wrong in that prediction. Not everything will go according to plan. Hell, maybe not one single thing will go as planned.

But, so what? So what if we are actively seeking failure with this crazy idea? Is that really a bad thing?

Part of the lesson is to fail. To fail often. To fail hard, with all of our hearts exposed to the spectacle. The ones who end up doing more than just surviving are the ones who learned resilience through all the setbacks.

So yeah. We are about to do something crazy and there is a good chance it can fail but if we learn perseverance from it all, isn’t the experiment worth it? What if this reveals to ourselves that we are meant to be more than just survivors? What if, together, as a family, against ludicrous odds, we find that we can be more?