Here's the back story...
After graduating from university in Regina, SK, Canada, I accepted a teaching position in Plum Coulee, MB. Yeah, I didn't know where it was either... Anyways, we moved, cats, birds, husband and all to a town called Morden, about 25 minutes West of my school. I worked for three years while the Hubby finished his degree in Computer Science. Then came baby and out went the birds. Hubby graduated, yay, and found employment. After Maternity leave I accepted a position as Resource Teacher in a town just slightly closer to home. Life was great, the daycare was great, the commute was easy, the grocery store was just down the road. And then came November...
We're moving... to Montreal. Hubby's company was doing well and wanted to bring all of their remote developers to a central Canadian location.
Ok, I'm fine with that, no big there. I can learn a new language. I spent a Summer there in high school. My kid will have an accent, cool! And then came December...
Layoffs, we're not moving. Ok, brain back into rural Manitoban life, got it. No problem, my job is awesome, I could retire here, I got to help design the playground, I teach Tech and Art and work with amazing people. All is great. Then in January...
Jack... How do you feel about California, North Carolina or Vancouver? Here we go again. Brain is all over the place. Hubby accepts job in North Carolina after rounds of interviews (that nearly killed all of the nerve in me... I mean, where the ____ will I be living/working?)
Then the hard part. My job. Do I stay or do I go? Really, who gives up a permanent teaching position in this day and age? Like, really? We'll I certainly can't stay and parent and work all alone. So the decision was made, I go. But, do I quit? Ultimately, yes, I had too. For all the parties involved that tried as hard as possible to keep me on, some things are just meant to be, and for me - and my little family - adventures await.
In the Spring I visited our new home in North Carolina. Urban life. Not big, but certainly Urban. There are some things I will have to get used to again. It's been 5 years since I lived in a city, and the occasional visit to Winnipeg does not count. Traffic, freeways - real freeways, the kind that you see on TV, fast paced people and unsafe neighbourhoods. The pros out weigh the cons in this case. The city was beautiful, up and coming and it had a life to it that didn't shut down at 5:00, plus things were open on Sunday's! Restaurants, coffee shops, play places, art spaces, boutiques, flowers (in the Winter). Wow.
So off we go. After the prep work.
Having Hubby accept the job was step one, me resigning was step two. But there is so much involved in uprooting your family from one life and into another. For starters there is everybody else. The people that matter, our friends and our family that we've grown accustomed to having around. Hubby's family and extended family are all in Winnipeg. Mine are here in Morden and just to the West in Saskatchewan. Not only will we no longer have free babysitters, but we will also not have our support network, and more importantly, our daughter won't have her grandparents, aunts and uncles close by. Some of our closest and dearest friends are here too. It is sad to think that our daughter may not remember the hours of enjoyment she has had with all of the great people that currently surround us.
This Summer has been the busiest Summer I have ever experienced, and believe me, as a school teacher I have had to cram a lot into two months. We have been away almost every weekend and some week nights too. Back and forth to small town Saskatchewan or Manitoba, or the city, the lake, who knows. We are visiting as much as we can. While all of that visiting takes place we are purging. Large rural town living has allowed for too much stuff. Everything must go. It is both refreshing and maddening. At times I wish I could just buy all new stuff when the plane lands, but in reality, I don't have that kind of cash.
So that is where I am at. Purge, purge, purge, and visit, visit, visit. I don't want to see my car anymore, and I really don't want to see my basement again either. But, I continue to prepare, to jump on a plane and shake up my life.
3 weeks left.
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