When Marga and I visited Scotland for the first time in 2017, we had no idea that just five years later we would be house hunting in the glens and around the lochs.

We had found some cheap tickets and used our recent discovery of one-bag travelling to celebrate our anniversary by spending a week in Scotland. If you are adventurous, Scotland is absolutely stunning in December! The leaves have fallen away from the trees in the Great Glen to reveal the moss and rain-swelled rivulets that run down the stones. Allt na criche is a small but magical hike through a fairy-tale forest overrun with waterfalls. Castles and ruins waited around every corner. Before we left, we were already talking about coming back.

In the United States, Marga and I would joke about retiring to Scotland. In 2021, as the pandemic travel bans lifted, Marga had persuaded me to run the Loch Ness Marathon with her. We visited Scotland a second time and found it no less wondrous than the first. The marathon itself was so beautiful that the miles passed with ease. “Maybe we should retire here,” we joked.

In December of 2021, Marga had surgery that meant she had to take several weeks off work. Forbidden to do any lifting, she turned to the internet for distraction. With Scotland fresh on her mind, she thought she’d “just check” to see if there were any Scotland neuro-PT job postings (or “neuro physio jobs” as they call them in the UK). There were two.

One of the job postings said, “For a personal conversation, call D.” Marga picked up the phone and dialed the number. D. is the director of the physiotherapy program at Lorne & Islands Hospital in Argyll. The two of them talked for an hour. At the end of the conversation, he urged her to apply for the position.

Two months and a lot of prayer and conversation later, we were making plans for her newly accepted job offer and a big move.