One of the keystones of writing a blog like this is to maintain a sort of mysterious semi-anonymity. I’ve tried to keep myself out of the narrative at least for the most part, so that this blog represents the “voice of the office,” so to speak.

However, I’m going to break that rule with this post.

As you may have noticed, the Lake Baldwin Dental blog went on a bit of a hiatus for the past few weeks. I apologize for the lapse, but I should be back in full swing with regular posts from here on out. So, why the break?

My husband, David, has been working toward dental school for the past several years. This past fall, he finished his Bachelor’s in Biology and was ready to apply. Fortunately, he got into one of our top choice locations. In Valencia, Spain.

Preparing for an international move is, to say the least, a lot of work. Especially for a Florida girl whose longest stretch outside the Sunshine State was eight months. Hence, the lack of blog posts. I’m happy to say that we have made the transition to our new home, after many sleepless nights and anxiety more intense than I thought possible, and all five of us—myself, David, our 6-year-old son Arden and both of our dogs—all arrived safe and jet-lagged to begin this new adventure.

Leaving Lake Baldwin Dental has been bittersweet for me. While I’m eager to start our new life and experience another culture, learn another language, and see another corner of the world, leaving my work family and all the patients I have come to love has been really hard. There were so many difficult goodbyes. There were a few of my favorite patients who I didn’t even get to see before I moved.

Through the past seven-and-a-half years, I have been so grateful to have an amazing workplace and amazing team around me. I will always treasure the special bonds I was able to grow with my patients, getting to know your families and their stories, seeing you through life changes and hard times, celebrating the good things with you all.

And then there were those truly special moments, rare and spectacular, when a patient would even come into a cleaning and say, “Yes, Paige, I flossed.” I’m tearing up just thinking about it.

I will dearly miss my LBD family and my patients. It’s something special to be able to look forward to going to work, and to feel good about my contribution to people’s lives at the end of the day.

I am so grateful for the amazing send-off Dr. Dunn and the LBD team gave me. We spent an amazing afternoon together at one of my favorite Orlando haunts, Rus-Teak (which, if you haven’t been there, I highly recommend checking it out). Dr. Dunn and Jeanie treated all of us to some amazing food and we even indulged in a few cocktails for one last happy hour. There were lots of laughs and lots of tears. It was really hard to pull myself away at the end of the evening.

But after a few last hugs and pictures, it was time to move into this next chapter of my life.

I am happy to report that we could not have landed in a better place to help us make this transition. We have a temporary rental for the next month, and the community here welcomed us into their neighborhood family. Everyone in this little community of four flats in one big house leaves their doors open all day so the dogs and kids can run in and out as they please. Our dogs have new friends to play with, and Arden already has a best friend, Arianna. They play together every day and effectively teaching each other their languages. How shocked was I when on day two my son came and asked where his water was in Spanish?? They even welcomed us to the big family cookout (called a paella, which is the name of a dish but also a type of pan, but also the event of cooking it together. It makes sense once you get the hang of it.) on Saturday.

I am also pleased to announce that I won’t be completely gone from LBD! I’ll still be here, blogging from across the Atlantic. I’ll be sure to send pictures to the crew so if any of you feel inclined to check up on me when you come for your cleanings they can fill you in on the latest.

To Dr. Dunn, to my patients, and to the entire LBD family, thank you. Thank you for the most amazing seven years. As we say here in Spain, hasta luego!