I was more excited about our January cover stories than I have been about any story for quite some time — yes, even the Trinity story. I hope that our October feature about the river and road running through out levees was enlightening for neighbors, and hopefully helped them decide how to vote.
But a story about people who decided once and for all to follow their dreams and not look back, that’s the stuff that can change lives. My hope is that it encouraged a few people who had been peering over the precipice to jump off the cliff (in a good way, of course). Because the truth is, life is too short to not do what we love.
One of the subjects of the story was left out, both because we had space constraints and because her story didn’t quite fit with the others. Instead of changing careers, Jennifer Posner decided to change her residence, without any concrete career plan. Many of you might know Posner as the former president of the Old Lake Highlands Neighborhood Association. Here’s her story:
Just a few months after being recruited to her new job, Jennifer Posner’s technology company announced that it was being acquired. She had worked in marketing one way or another for the last 20 years, climbing the corporate ladder since she graduated from college, but suddenly found herself without a job.
And, for the first time, with no desire to find another one.
“With a hatchet, they just schlobbed off half of the workforce,” Posner says. “Being a recipient of the ugliness of corporate America helped me to get off my duff and realize this is just not meaningful.”
Not long afterward, Posner found a note in her mailbox from someone interested in buying her mid-century modern home in Old Lake Highlands, and she realized this could be her ticket. She and her partner, Montana Walsh, began talking to Realtors, and before long stuck a “for sale” sign in their yard with the decision that, as soon as the house sold, they would move to the cobblestone streets of San Miguel, Mexico. Walsh, who teaches both conversational Spanish and English as a second language, will continue her work there, but Posner is starting from scratch.
“People are asking, ‘Why are you doing this?’ and my answer is, ‘Why the hell not?’” Posner says. “Normally I would just take another corporate job and after six or 12 months be miserable, asking, ‘Why am I doing this? What do I really want to do?’ But no motivation to do it.
“I’ve talked to so many people who are like, ‘Oh my god, you’re living the dream that I’ve never had the courage to follow,’ and that encourages me. The adventure is exciting. I don’t know what I’m going for, but I’m going for it.”
Posner will have plenty of time to figure out what she wants to do next; the process of obtaining a work visa takes roughly two years. No matter what she decides, “I’m going to work as little as I have to,” Posner declares. “It just does not have to be so hard. Our cost of living could be half of what it is here, and that’s not skimping.”
Posner has socked away enough money over the last few years that she and Walsh can live comfortably in the mountain village, with modern conveniences like high-speed Internet but no modern eyesores like the golden arches. By the time Lake Highlanders read this, she’ll be strolling from her home to the neighborhood market, canvas bag on her arm ready to pick that day’s produce, the nine to five grind the furthest thing from her mind.
