Homeward Bound

One week can turn everything you thought was going to happen on its head. When my parents came down for a visit about two weeks ago, I recieved a phone interview offer for a job in our hometown. Life was a bit frantic that week because if I got the job, I'd have a week to relocate and start ASAP. We placed tons of "what if's" in place on standby preperation, but really couldn't do much until we knew one way or another for sure.

The first interview was this Monday, which I knocked out of the park. As proof, they called back an hour later to offer a second interview via Skype for early the following morning. That one didn't feel like it went nearly as well. I forgot my headset, had wireless connection issues, lost video near the end, forgot to look into the camera instead of at the screen, talked too fast... I was pretty sure I'd botched it. Surprisingly, I was okay with this, since I approached this situation with an "if it's meant to be," attitude. If I landed the job, I'd be headed home. If not, there's nothing wrong with staying put; I'd already learned to accept that the baby would be born here.

Yesterday, my afternoon doctors appointment was switched to the morning because of the doctor's family emergency. While waiting, I got the offer. Today's my last day at work. We're moving home this weekend and I start my new job on Monday. We're so excited! It hadn't really sunk in last night, until about 3 am when I realized I was wide awake with my head spinning with all of the things I needed to get done.
So things happen the way they are meant to and when they are supposed to. I am very grateful and lucky and cant wait to be living back home again. I'm also really glad we'll have family around when Johnny arrives.


(In baby news, according to the ultrasound, Johnny is 5 lbs. 2 oz. He has the cutest looking cheeks as best as we could see. He's in the position he needs to be with head down--so all is well. I on the other hand need to work on my blood pressure, but hopefully that will straighten out once we're all settled in.)

Waiting for My Real Life to Begin

Any minute now, my ship is coming in
I'll keep checking the horizon
I'll stand on the bow, feel the waves come crashing
Come crashing down down down, on me

And you say, be still my love
Open up your heart
Let the light shine in
But don't you understand
I already have a plan
I'm waiting for my real life to begin
--Colin Hay

I’m working on being patient. I’m working on trusting that everything will work itself out. I’m not perfect at doing either of these things, but I am trying to be better.

The past week or so has been a test of my patience. No, nothing exciting happened, which I suppose was precisely the problem. We’re waiting for Johnny. At the same time, I’ve been waiting for a better job. I’ve been waiting since well before graduating six months ago. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to move home for almost three years. Heading into the third trimester, the ability to travel for interviews is concerning. Not to mention, the odds of being hired at this point in the pregnancy probably are slim.

I worry about leaving Johnny with strangers. I worry about finding trustworthy caretakers on our second shift schedules. I worry about affording child care. In a perfect world, we’d be back home and I’d have family I could trust him to.

Yet, maybe this is where I’m meant to be for now. If I stay put, I at least have some sick/vacation time built up for maternity leave. I’m not trying to play Pollyanna and put a positive spin on an otherwise stressful situation. Instead, I’m trying to find the patience to accept the blessings I do have. I’m trying to focus on the joy in my life. I’m trying to quit waiting for my real life to begin and instead enjoy the life I am leaving.

It's gonna happen soon, soon, soon
It's just that times are lean

And you say, be still my love
Open up your heart, let the light shine in
Don't you understand
I already have a plan
I'm waiting for my real life to begin

What a difference a day makes

Last Sunday was an incredible day. Of course, it didn't start out that way. We are in a slight pickle with our housing situation. Our lease is up at the end of the month and we'd love to move home. Unfortunately, without jobs, it's not an option. We can't affordably get an extension on our current lease, but are hesitant to sign a new one, since we don't know where we'll be and for how long.
Long story short we spent most of the day tracking all over Savannah looking for adequate housing. Our best options were a house that's about an hour one way from work (not so great when you work the night shift). Or, we could move into the upstairs of a moderate sized house, with an "efficiency" kitchen. The stove, sink and fridge took up less space than my dorm fridge.
Needless to say, we weren't feeling the greatest driving back to our apartment. Half jokingly, we toyed with the idea of moving home and taking a pair of minimum wage jobs, which, if full time, we could probably get by on. Then the phone rang.
I spoke with a library board president from a small town relatively close to home. The director job was mine for the asking.
The catch was a less than thorough answer on the question of insurance benefits. Rich and I decided we needed to find out exactly how important benefits were. We found out that evening that we are expecting a future hockey player and insurance is indeed important. This was probably one of the best days ever--we were both so excited for our family and to be moving home. We celebrated with a trip to walmart--where shopping the baby section was more than just something to kill time.

(ps--unfortunately, benefits became too important and I can't pass up the good deal I've already got here--so for now we're in Savannah, but we're still really happy just the same)

Where does the Time Go?

I can't believe that I haven't written in nearly 2 months. Things have just been hectic, I guess. So for those who need to know, here's a recap
In October I had an interview and got to spend a fall weekend at home. I went apple picking with the whole family, which was a blast. At the end of the month, Maudy and Grumpy came to visit. We took in many of the great Savannah sites we hadn't yet seen as well as some great dining.
November. Well, I have no good excuse about where Novemeber went, except that it too flew by. I've been volunteering with the libraries and a local elementary school. I worked on three major school projects: a quilting catalog, a reclassification for the CD collection at the Library where I work, and a capstone project that was a larger bite than I should have taken. The capstone project was interesting, since I was comparing browsing habits of library and bookstore patrons, but it was also very time consuming since I had to follow patrons around and observe those habits. If I were smarter or lazier, I would have stuck to a literature review.
In my spare time, I've been following high school football play-off as Rich's road-trip attache. I'm not the biggest football fan, but I do like taking in the various corners of the state, including a pizza parlor featuring a shrine to Robert E. Lee.

The good news is, the projects are done. My hockey quilt is done. Christmas shopping is mostly done and I'm ready to go home for the holidays and relax. Now that I'm practically graduated, I shall have to resolve to keep up with this blog a bit more frequently.