Quit The Job. Move To Italy

Perhaps you've had this dream. Of packing it all up. Quitting the job. Selling the house. Moving someplace far, far away. Halfway To Each Other is a story of a couple who did just that.

The author, Susan Pohlman and her husband decided on a whim while vacationing in Italy to leave LA. Maybe not a total whim. Their marriage was uncertain. Something told them to take the kids and just do it. See if they could repair them. The plan was to stay a year.

It was a risky move. Her husband left his corporate job. No one seems to understand that especially when there are children involved. People thought they might be crazy. But doesn't everyone when you want to do something out of the ordinary.

This a memoir. Full of Susan's observations of how this leap of faith repaired their marriage and drew them closer as a family. For me besides the travelogue portion, and my own love of anything Italian, was the bold relief the landscape provided for how crazy we let our own lives get in this country. How much of that is in our ties to our corporate jobs and the lives we are told we should be wanting and living.

I found this book in one of those six degrees of separation scenarios. My friend Michael, who also used to work for me when I lived in DC thought I would enjoy it. Susan and her husband are old friends of his from Ohio. Turns out Susan's husband and I both worked at CBS for a few overlapping years.

If you've ever dreamed of having the courage of the Pohlman family or even if you are just a lover of Italy, this is an enjoyable read.