one step forward

Things can turn on a dime, change in an instant. A few weeks ago I flew into a small town to visit a school. It was raining, gray and uninviting. I didn't much like the town and told the Wizard that night that I wanted to get on the next plane home so I could spend the break with my children. The next day came and I got to meet the school, and I fell in love with it. Now, almost a month later, our whole family is going back so my children and I can meet our new classes and the Wizard can scope out housing.

Every day more people in our community learn that we are leaving, and it truly feels bittersweet. While we have lamented not having close friends where we have been for 12 years, we do nevertheless have a community here that has supported us during the last three years. Add to that the overwhelm of getting and having a house on the market and all that two jobs and a 45 minute commute entail, and you have the right ingredients to something looking more like a pity party than a celebration. It is at these times that I wish our families were closer, because once again the Wizard and I are doing it all alone, and it's a bit more than we can both comfortably handle. But happily, in a few more months we will be able to settle into the future and live with the knowledge that our children will get to grow up in a small town. And that has to be worth it.