bpcyclist, thanks for your sweet concern! He does know. We were talking about this a lot today, which helped ease my mind a bit. I know this type of travel must be in my future. I can't deny that. I know what needs to be done, and that includes careful planning and using past experiences as lessons for what not to do and things to do for preventative purposes.

When my husband first brought up moving to Europe (years back) my reaction was severely negative and my psychiatrist even reinforced that. I must confess that life circumstances have changed that, a bit. I know any major change in life is destabilizing for me, to various degrees, but the changes must happen, all the same.

15 years ago, I may have never thought I would be in my current situation, but I am. Like a child resisting a spoonful of medicine because of the bad taste or fear of vomiting, the medicine will likely bring me wellness in the end. Putting it in the mouth, swallowing, and dealing with aftertaste is hard, I know, but it passes.

Who knows, maybe something will happen in the next year or two that brings hope for me here. Or, maybe the prospect of a move will become increasingly easier to deal with. I can say that not many people have the advantage/ease of making such a move. My husband has joint US/EU citizenship and we both speak some French, and he is a native Czech speaker. Also...though sad to write, we have a stronger family and friend support system in Europe than the US. I love my siblings and dad, but we live our own very separate lives. Perhaps if my mother was still with us, this would all be different. My fears about living abroad are less about missing them, and more about new beginnings and challenges. Honestly, in some ways, I could experience similar moving from where I am to another place in the US itself. Weighing pros and cons can show interesting results.