A Big Move...Literally

A couple of weeks ago I alluded to something "big" going on in our lives.  Well, here it is:

We are moving back to Baton Rouge.  Saturday.

We're excited.  We're ready to go.  We're also nervous because it is a big life change.  And of course we are sad at leaving the place we've called home for the past nine-plus years.  And the friends we are leaving?  Well, I don't even want to talk about that right now.

It's kind of a long story at how we have arrived at this decision, but for the sake of brevity, I'll spare you lots of details.

Basically, the story is this: I have a very likely opportunity (that has been unofficially-but-should-soon-be-officially confirmed) to return to the job I once had as a full-time college instructor.  While I enjoyed teaching high school for the seven years that I did it, I felt that I wasn't really balancing motherhood and teaching to my satisfaction after Amelia was born.  I often found myself wishing that I could go back to a college teaching schedule for the sake of being a more involved mother, but honestly, full-time instructor positions seem to be a rarity in these parts.

My friend Martha jokingly mentioned that she bet I could get my old job back if we returned to Baton Rouge.  I laughed it off at first, but then Darryl and I started talking about it.  And the more we talked about it, the more we were drawn to the idea for many reasons besides just employment for me.  (I'll get into those in a later post this week.)  I got in touch with the people I needed to get in touch with, and the ball started rolling from there.

But we were skeptical.

We'd have to sell our house in a terrible market.  We got a contract on our house in about 45 days.

We'd have to find a place we liked for Amelia to go to school.  We found it.

Darryl would have to get approval to work from a remote location.  He got it.

Things just started falling into place, and we are certain that this is the right move for us to make at this season in our lives.

There are several things I feel the need to clarify, though...

1.  We do not feel that we made a mistake in moving to Atlanta when we did.  This isn't a case of "Atlanta isn't for us, so let's move back to what is familiar."  We have loved living here, so much so that we told ourselves in the beginning that if this Baton Rouge move didn't work out, we would be just fine here.  And that is the truth.  I can't even get into the things we've gained from living here, but we are so grateful for the experiences we've had in the past nine years.

2.  We know there is some truth in "you can't go home again." We know places change.  People change.  People who were our friends before might not have much in common with us now.  On the flip side, I suspect people we weren't good friends with before might have more in common with us now.  We are not expecting life to be just like it was when we left.

3.  No job is perfect.  Every job has its flaws; it all comes down to the flaws you can live with and the ones you can't.  I vividly remember the yucky parts of college teaching, but you know what?  I can live with them.

4.  No place is perfect.  Atlanta is too spread out and has too much traffic.  But you know what?  Baton Rouge has some gross humidity, y'all.  (Darryl is pumped about it.  I, with the naturally wavy/crazy hair, am NOT.)

So that's the big news.  And I'll have some more posts this week about things related to the move.  Keep us in your thoughts, though...we've got a lot to get done this week!