When the Dream Comes True

This week, after so much waiting, hoping, and quietly holding onto something that felt just out of reach, we got the news.

Luke got the job!

Image from KimKim.com - Andenes Norway

Just like that, our Norwegian dream is no longer a dream. It’s real. It’s happening.

What made it even more special, something I don’t think I’ll ever be able to explain properly, is when we found out.

It was on my Mummy’s birthday.

Our annual tradition even in her absence - we celebrate her birthday with cake and singing her Happy Birthday.

She’s been gone for almost eight years now, and not a day goes by where I don’t wish I could share life’s big moments with her. The night before, I said to Luke, half joking but also not at all, “How amazing would it be if Mum gave us Norway for her birthday?”

And somehow, it feels like she did.

There are moments in life that feel bigger than coincidence. Moments that feel like a quiet nudge or a whisper of reassurance. This felt like one of those. Like a blessing. Like she’s still here, still part of our story, still cheering us on as we step into something new.

And now, almost overnight, everything has changed.

We’ve gone from being completely stuck, unable to make a single decision while we waited, to suddenly needing to make a hundred. Logistics. Housing. Work. Language. Life.

Our minds, which had grown used to the stillness of waiting, are now filled with noise. Plans, questions, possibilities, uncertainties. It’s exciting, overwhelming, and a little bit disorienting all at once.

Strangely, there’s a small part of me that already misses the quiet of the “not yet.”

But mostly, there is joy.

Big, expansive, slightly terrifying joy.

Because this is what we hoped for. This is what we worked towards. This is what we dreamed about in conversations that felt far away and hypothetical, and now, we’re stepping into it.

I know it won’t all be easy. There will be challenges, adjustments, and moments where we wonder what we’ve done, but for now, I just want to sit in this moment.

Grateful. Hopeful, and feeling, very deeply, that we’re not doing this alone.

Med kjærlighet og vennlighet (with love and kindness),

Alicia