December.

"When can you start?" was the opening line of the email, "I have two Italian families that are looking for an au pair to begin December 1."

Thoughts flooded my mind as I thought of the logistics. Not only would I be in New York on December 1, I had a multitude of additional loose ends that is less than 3 weeks I'd need to figure out in order to ditch my American life and flee to Italy.

Find a place for my cats, get rid of my car, quit job, get out of lease, sell furniture.

Overwhelmed within 30 seconds of thinking about how the move could be feasible I had to reply, "unfortunately, I will be in New York in December and wouldn't be able to come until after the first of the year." Luckily she said there are families that are always looking for an au pair but the irresponsible teenager inside wishes I could simply book a flight and leave in a few weeks.

Growing up my mother always ingrained in our heads that we should travel. She had been a flight attendant and traveled around the world. Something always prohibited me, I had a new job or a new boyfriend, and I continued to put off traveling until I was 26. I'm not sure where the flame or desire began but ever since I left the country in May 2010, I haven't stopped my love affair with Europe. Thinking a lot about career paths lately the thought has often crossed my mind to get up and travel, take pictures, and write books. When I travel I always write detailed emails filled with enough imagery to make the reader believe they themselves are experiencing the culture. With traveling, photography, and writing, three of my main passions (cooking would be the other), that seems like it would be the perfect job for my interests. Now if only I could figure out how to get paid for this!