A Jenario Origin story
I like it when decisions make themselves. At least for me that’s how the big ones happen. Perhaps I’m not giving myself enough credit for considering every possible angle well in advance of any actual crisis, but by the time a big decision is necessary, it seems to make itself.
September 2022 started with the realization that our daughter was no longer able to attend school. The decision we had been dreading for years made itself over the course of that first week back to school. We would become a home-educating family.
In the last week of September 2022 another decision happened. Dario would leave his job. His six years at Google and Facebook had ushered our family from the first weeks of parenthood in an Avalon Apartment in Sunnyvale, CA through to a semi-detached house just outside the limits of London’s boroughs, with three other homes in between. This decision was another one I had long sensed might come and I was against it. Adamantly. Until one day I wasn’t.
It was the day after Dario’s birthday, we were still settling in to home-ed, and Dario had a lot on his mind. While he was out for a walk I realized it was time for me to support Dario taking a leap. I’m not sure if I knew then that it would all work out, or if I’m just making up that part. Regardless, I knew it was what we needed next.
As I write this for my inaugural jenario post, I’m wondering what the main takeaway is. How am I conveying the jenario mission here? In August 2022, we were a family of three – an elementary school daughter, a husband with a job and a retired teacher/stay at home mom. We fit one version of the mold and for what anyone could tell, we were nailing it. But, it wasn’t really us. We wasted a lot of energy keeping all the balls in the air.
In the course of a month, we deconstructed it all to live lives that were more harmonious with who we are. The courage it took then requires periodic touching up, but we believe we can create our own way of adding value to the world. Guided by our experience, knowledge and creative drives, we hope to build jenario as a vehicle for our ideas and an outlet for our expertise.
The decisions have made themselves and we’re here for it. We hope you’ll come along, too.