April’s Blueprint

A Plan for THE Plan

It is never too late to be what you might have been. —George Eliot

Town of Telluride from a Skier’s Perspective. Photo by Wendy Stieg

When the Life You Built No Longer Fits

There was a moment when Paul and I realized that we weren’t going to be able to sustain how we were living. Not only that, but that way of living no longer seemed to fit where we wanted to head. We had moved from Leadville, Colorado, to Eagle County, where we built what many would recognize as a version of the American Dream. We had a beautiful home in Gypsum, wonderful friends, and decent jobs. On the surface, everything looked right. But Eagle County is a place of extremes. At the intersection near Cooley Mesa Drive, on my way to work via Highway 6,  you could watch a line of private jets arriving through the Eagle County Regional Airport, a steady stream of wealth moving through the valley. This is in stark contrast to the many others working very hard just to stay afloat. We found ourselves somewhere in the middle, aware of what we had and grateful for it, but increasingly aware that something wasn’t sitting right.

Somewhere in Andalusia, Spain Photo by Wendy Stieg

Mid-Stream

April’s Blueprint begins here. Taking something from Paul’s bucket list, exploring a new area in Europe, and beginning to shape what it might look like to spend time in the Barcelona region. The house is not sold. The timeline is not fixed. Nothing is fully resolved. But we are starting anyway. This piece is about that beginning, sitting down to plan, working through what we can, leaving what we can’t, and allowing the process to take shape without forcing it into something it isn’t yet. It is what it looks like when a life shift starts to become a plan.

This began in a different place, one that I wrote about more fully in April’s Muse: Inspiration for a Fresh Start.

The Question That Stayed

After the years following COVID, we were picking up the pieces and working hard without any particular plan. One morning Paul asked, “What are we doing? Are we just going to keep working like this? Until when?” It was a simple question, but it stayed with us. We realized we were working constantly, mostly to sustain a system that didn’t seem to move us forward. We had already traveled throughout the United States, spent time in Europe, and gone to Mexico for music that mattered deeply to us. Those experiences showed us that something else was possible. We were ready to try something different. We knew we wanted a different life, one that allowed us to be more intentional about how we lived, where we focused our energy, and what we were actually building toward.

Version One: Cortez and Portugal

The plan was simple: find stable jobs, lower our cost of living, and begin building toward a future that included buying a home in Portugal and work that was our own. We bought a home in Cortez and committed to making it work, but over time another reality set in. The jobs we needed weren’t there, not in Montezuma County and not in La Plata County, and by the beginning of 2026, the plan itself was beginning to unravel. We now find ourselves in a familiar place again, not at the beginning, but not settled either. Mid-stream. Not looking back on it, but living in it. This is not a story told from the other side, once everything has worked out. It is the middle, where things are still uncertain, still shifting, and still unresolved. It is from here that we are choosing to move forward.

I’ve seen this before, when plans meet reality in ways you don’t expect, something I wrote about in The Chateau Fights Back.

Andalusia Archway. Photo by Wendy Stieg

What This Plan Is

Paul has dreamed of seeing the triple crown of cycling in Europe: La Vuelta, Le Giro d’Italia, and Le Tour de France. We are both dreaming of eventually retiring in Spain, after much research, one failed attempt in Portugal, and the decision to live somewhere where digital nomads can thrive. Thanks to my new job, I can eventually look at living in other parts of the world and take my job with me. The idea of Europe means we have a home base from which to explore. It suits how we like to travel, which is not a series of Instagram-ready photos but real, lived experiences, becoming a part of a new community. Our shared desire to continue traveling is part of what is fueling this dream.

Andalusia Square. Photo by Wendy Stieg

Starting Anyway

We actually find ourselves in the middle of a transition, and some may say we are crazy to think this way, but you don’t get anywhere in life waiting for the perfect moment. In my experience the perfect moment never arrives. You are always only faced with what decisions you are going to make. Being in an unsettled state makes it harder to feel like you are on stable ground, So right now, the house is on the market, Paul is working at a new job in Montrose with a temporary housing situation, and we have a movable flexible timeline because we don’t have control over when all of this will come together. The important thing is that regardless of where we are in life right now, we start planning anyway. Planning our trip in September, and continuing to stay on the path toward financial stability and a better life. 

Sometimes the path shifts in ways you can’t control, something I’ve reflected on before in Force Majeure.

Where Planning Begins

So what now? This is the exact moment where I open the planner I have built to help me in this process, and start with the inspiration. What I have just described IS the inspiration and the impetus for our upcoming Barcelona trip. We have walked through the phase of allowing inspiration to wash over us, and feel that the Barcelona area is the place to start. It is near France, in Spain, has an international airport, and I already speak Spanish. So that is a huge plus. But even perhaps more important: the soul of Spain is its culture, and that culture values human relationships. Connectedness. Good food, good wine. Living an active lifestyle. We also want to live near the Mediterranean, so we have that ocean connection and the Mediterranean lifestyle. 

In Real Time

I invite you to join me on this journey, in the planning of this trip in real time. In real life. I hope to connect where we have been with where we are going, and to seize the day and live life intentionally. Our desire to live a better life and create the life of our dreams fuels this entire plan, as it is part of the life we want to live. Our goal is to move to Spain completely in five years, but over the next five years we plan to build a way to create our own income. We plan to keep the Colorado house so that we can continue to keep that investment. Join us on this journey, maybe this will inspire you to create your own travel dream.