For 10 years, I shared a London office at Yves Delorme, a luxury textile brand, with a wonderful colleague whose family was from India. I always admired her holiday pictures from Amritsar or jungle safaris — with no idea that one day, I would be having similar adventures with my own family.
Editor’s Note: The inspiration for Chris Pavone’s 2012 bestselling debut novel, The Expats, came from his 18-month experience as a trailing spouse in Luxembourg. Now the author of five thrilling novels, including the recently released Two Nights in Lisbon, he has agreed to share his own story with our readers as part of our Trailing-Spouse Book Club.
My wife and I both worked in book publishing. One evening, she came home from work and asked, “What would you think of living in Luxembourg?” I was nearly 40 years old, and except for my college years at Cornell University in upstate New York, I’d never lived anywhere other than my hometown of New York City. This felt like a pretty big hole in a repertoire of life experiences, a problem that could be solved simply by saying yes. So I did.
For years, whenever I Googled stories of fellow trailing spouses, the search results focused on expat experiences or career disappointments. I’m so glad that I recently discovered Trailing-Spouse.com, filled with inspiring stories of all kinds of people who “get” my challenges and have also seized opportunities for professional and personal growth along the way.
In my case, I’ve experienced seven moves — four prompted by a partner’s job loss. It’s a story of resilience, reinvention, and a LOT of networking. I now spend my time helping other women with their own reinventions, sharing the lessons I’ve learned along the (hard) way through my own non-linear journey.