arts&life

travel

A Well-
Planned
Leap Of
Faith

A local family left everything familiar to them for

a yearlong adventure of a lifetime.

MARLA KAFTAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

32

July 26 • 2018

jn

W

e returned home last
August after spend-
ing one year living in

Barcelona.
My husband, Jeffrey, and I
fantasized about an extended
overseas experience early on in
our now 18 years of marriage.
My father always talked to me
about world travel — and Jeffrey
has a great sense of adventure.
We were both born and bred
in Detroit, and committed to
our family and our community
— but we both craved a bigger
experience. We knew we could
do this if we set our minds to
it, and we pursued this dream
together, for ourselves and our
children.
Four years prior to our adven-
ture, we set the ball into motion.
We knew that the 2016/17 year
would be ideal, as our middle
daughter would have her bat
mitzvah in May 2016, just before
we left, and our oldest son
would begin his freshman year
of high school overseas.
Jeffrey and I knew it mattered
how we presented the idea to
the kids. And we like to lead by
example. Jeffrey stumbled upon
an article in an entrepreneurial
magazine from a group called
Young Entrepreneurs Organiz-
ation — the article presented
a family of five, like ours, who
recently came back from spend-
ing a year in Barcelona, so
Jeffrey reached out to the father,
David Rich. David was on such a
high after his experience that it
became contagious to Jeffrey.
We had already scheduled a
trip to New York that December
(where David and his family

lived), and they invited us over
to share their story with us.
They quickly had us drinking
the Kool-Aid. This family guided
us in so many ways toward our
dream. It was during that visit
that we shared our idea of mov-
ing to Barcelona with the kids
for the first time. They displayed
aversion but also curiosity.
We chose Barcelona,
researched resources, submit-
ted visa applications, prepared
a budget, applied our three kids
to international school — and
eventually shared our decision
with our parents. Many of our
friends and family raised an
eyebrow at our agenda. In par-
ticular, the parts where Jeffrey
was to work remotely, the kids
were to leave their friends and
we were to abandon our seats at
the Passover seder.
On Aug. 9, 2016, the five
Kaftans boarded an airplane
with 15 pieces of luggage and
heavy hearts beating in trepida-
tion with a side of excitement.
The June prior to leav-
ing, Jeffrey and I traveled to
Barcelona for a week on a
reconnaissance trip. We chose a
neighborhood, found an apart-
ment and toured the school. At
the time, we may have thought
we understood the leap we were
about to take. However, upon
our arrival to that sweltering
European Spanish-speaking
nation, we realized we had little
idea about the adventure ready
to unfold.
Within the first month, the
adjustment to our new commu-
nity created frustrations, hesita-
tions and innovations. The kids