Let the shock of that sink in for a minute. You might be surprised in reading that. Hell, every single one of us in the room was stunned upon this news, and all immediately began to process the "what the hell" and the "what am I going to do" portions of life.
You've got to be joking, move to Washington DC. If any city in this country is "So Not Me" I think it is Washington DC. I've lived here since 1984, with a brief 4 month attempt at living in Atlanta, and while the weather here hurts my face sometimes, and traffic is a bitch, I honestly can't imagine living somewhere else.
Doug and I discussed the major league reasons "no" that night, and were pretty solid in our decision. The no factors were:
- My Parents being here/local and me not being 90 minutes away in case of an emergency
- Geoff. Not quite ready to live on his own due to too small an income, not really in a position where he has friends he can room with/get a place with. He can take care of himself for sure, he just needs another $1000 a month income to keep him stable as a solo artist.
- Doug has a job and no real reason to walk away from it.
About a week went by, and then Doug suddenly had a change of heart, mind, and spirit. We weighed the yes factors and they were:
- I love my job. I really truly do. Long time readers know that I spent the better part of 2010-2014 under employed. We lost our house. We struggled to make ends meet. I am well compensated, and I love what I do. Finally falling into this position where not only do I make money but I kind of am super happy with the mission of the company and what we do ... it is hard to give that up.
- Doug doesn't really love his job. Nowhere near as much as I like mine. He's willing to make a change, take the Leap Of Faith, as it were. And he is hopeful that with the amount of time he's put in where he is, the opportunity to climb a rung in the organizational chart may exist somewhere out there.
- Geoff will be fine. He can come with us, and if it super sucks and he hates it, he can say he tried, and we'll figure out something and somewhere for him to be back "home" where he is happiest.
- My parents may be farther away by car, but I can be back in Boston in 90 minutes, and rent a car and be to them in less than an hour. Weather permitting, of course. My sister is about 4 hours away by car - closer by plane if need be. I talked to my cousins who live on the Cape and just to the north of my parents, and a dear friend from College who lives in the same town. They'll be my early warning system. And I know when they let me know that it is time to fly, it's time to fly.
- My work wife "RCJ" is already in the DC office. She relocated a year or so ago, and it will be fantastic to work by her side, instead of from a distance, once again.
After further discussion and debating, we decided we'd go. I took the company up on their offer. We will be relocating.
I'll let those words sink in for a second. We will be relocating. To Washington DC.
Now... once you make such a pronouncement, such an annunciation, questions start flowing in. When? Where are you living? When are you moving? Is the dog going? I feel like my friends are all Auntie 20 Questions right now.
So here's the run down of what we know.
- We made the decision to go. And that can change. Shit happens, you know. But we're virtually 90% absolute on the going.
- Doug is applying for jobs. Anywhere from the Alexandria VA area up to Rockville MD and points between.
- Until Doug has a job, we don't know where we are living.
- We are looking at rentals, and getting an idea of prices, where we can afford, where we certainly cannot.
- We are not planning to buy, mostly because we can't. Thanks to that "thing that happened" that I'm not allowed to talk about with a certain "Bank of Somewhere" my credit rating is in the shitter. I'll have a hard enough time convincing someone to rent to us. So we could use some mojo.
- The dog is indeed coming with us. That's a non-negotiable.
- Geoff comes with, Jess does not. She has an apartment and a job. I couldn't convince her to let Geoff move in with her. He could afford his portion of the rent for sure. But no. Not welcome.
- If Doug secures a job, he'll see if he can start July 1 or just after July 4th weekend. If they want him to start earlier, he'll go down and we'll find a place for him.
- The company has a moving team that will move all our stuff. Right now, we're sorting and organizing, purging and cleaning. I've never had professional movers, so this is weird.
- No, I'm not super excited or looking forward to this or pumped for a new adventure. I'm overwhelmed, exhausted, and sad. And we haven't even gotten started. I don't really want to move. Especially to Washington DC.
- Geoff is incredibly anxious and upset, and I think some of his anxiety is rubbing off on me.
- My office closes Sept 22nd, so I can't work here any more after that date, But... I'm looking into finding out if I can telecommute briefly if we haven't relocated by then.
- In my heart of hearts, I'd like to stay here through the 22nd, and take the following week off for the move, and be there for the beginning of October. But. Like I said... a lot hinges upon Doug.
So, on the eve of our 26th wedding anniversary, there's the big update. There's the big news. And here's to the next phase of Doug and Chris have fun out in the world.
Wish us luck.
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