The Tipping Point: Moving to Tuscany - Turning Tuscan: A Step-by-Step Guide to Going Native - page 38

The Tipping Point: Moving to Tuscany
I n January of 2004 my mother, Clara Hilt, passed away. Pam and I had been involved with
her extended care during the last years of her life, and whenever we were in Italy, she always
counted the days. After her death the possibility of leaving the Bay Area became a viable
option, although it wasn't one that we considered immediately.
Some months after my mother's passing I experienced a moment of revelation. It came not
duringmeditationoryogabutwhileIwasstudyingtheresultsofourcampaignswithGoogle
Adwords.WehadstartedadvertisingoursummertoursinTuscanyandalsoourprojectman-
agement classes using Google's pay-per-click system. When I looked closely at the stats, I
had to rub my eyes several times. The number of inquiries for Tuscany tours was ten times
greater than the number of inquiries for PM training. The Google numbers suggested that
interest in Tuscany travel was an order of magnitude greater than interest in project man-
agement. This may not seem all that odd to you, but to us Tuscany had always seemed like
a niche interest while PM represented the mainstream. Since Tuscany had been our hobby
while corporate training was our bread-and-butter work in the real world, it took a while for
all of this to sink in and take hold.
But, gradually, we started wondering whether it might actually be possible to do what we
lovedforaliving.WealreadyhadaplacetoliveinTuscanythankstoourimpulsivedecision
a few years earlier. And, so, by August of that year we had packed all our earthly goods into
a few dozen, large, plastic tubs that we stacked in our barn. We told our daughters that we
were going to spend next year in Italy,and that they should pick out their favorite dollies and
stuffed animals to bring with them. We rented out our house to a woman with a long dark
braid who had been my mother's caretaker, and we purchased our tickets to Florence. After
years of dipping our feet in the waters, we all joined hands, took a deep breath and jumped
in.