Dries Buytaert

I pretty much spent my entire life in Antwerp — 31 years to date. However, in just a few weeks, my family and I will be moving to Boston. Why?

• Primarily, it allows me to reduce my travel and spend more time with my family. I flew 65,000 miles the first five months of this year, and 100,000 miles in total last year. Being away from home that much isn't fun; neither is having a permanent jetlag.
• My wife has accepted a research position at Broad Institute, a genomics research center jointly of MIT and Harvard. As a postdoctoral researcher, it is a tremendous opportunity. Did I mention how proud I am of her?
• Acquia, my company, is based in Boston and I want to spend more actual person-to-person time there. While working remotely is OK, nothing beats face-to-face interaction, especially when you're a fast growing start-up.

We've decided to move for a period of two years, and to return to Belgium in 2012. By then, Axl and Stan can go to school in Belgium, my wife can resume her research position at Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, and hopefully, Acquia will have offices in Europe.

Moving 3,500 miles from your home town, most of your relatives, and many of your best friends is not an easy choice. It's quite likely that — at this early date — we do not understand how significant of a change it will really be. While we'll miss our friends and family in Belgium, we believe that it will be a win-win.

I'll keep you posted about our move, and our adventures abroad!