We May Just Be Crazy

In my last post I mentioned that there was something else going on in our lives. . .so I'll get right to it. . .we may be moving. Thus, the subject line -- considering I am due to have a baby in July!

I ask that you use discretion at this time because we do not know for sure. If you followed my other blog then you know that we've liked it here the past 8 years and Joe has liked both of his jobs, but we never felt like Omaha would be our home forever. We moved here in April 2003 and when Joe completed his Masters in December 2006 he applied to AMD in Austin, Texas. They told him they wanted to hire him but the economy forced them to have a hiring freeze and it fell through. So then he applied to Intel, also in Austin, but the Portland location ended up being the one instead to interview him and offer him a job. But, we did not feel the location was right for us and so he declined. The next job he applied to was in April 2007 here in Omaha -- the job which Joe has been doing for the past 4 years.

Last year some changes with his job occurred that made us wonder if it was "now or never" as far as moving. We both feel the same way as far as once our kids are in school we do not want to move from wherever we are until they graduate! Wherever we live when Logan is 6 (or, at the most, 7) is where we will stay because I moved at 8 yrs old and that was already too old.

For the past few years, there's only been two places we'd want to live: North Carolina (=paradise) or Chicago (to stay in the Midwest). So, last August Joe sent his resume out for the first time since 2007 to one company: Google in Chicago. He didn't hear back for 4 months so we both pretty much forgot about it! Then, in December the Council Bluffs, IA location (i.e. we'd stay in Omaha) called him for a phone interview. But it was for a different position and Joe didn't think he'd like it so he explained his concerns and wasn't called back for any other interviews.

By then we knew I was pregnant so we put the moving idea on the back burner until 2012. Plus, there had been no other jobs that interested Joe when looking at what was available in the Chicago suburbs or North Carolina. BUT, in February, he randomly checked a website for good-paying jobs in North Carolina (which definitely appealed to me in the winter)! We were shocked to see that there was the same position for the same company in West Des Moines, IOWA (where we're from). In our 8 yrs here, there had never been an opportunity in Iowa as, despite ISU being one of the best Universities in the entire United States when it comes to engineering, it is not a state with many actual engineering jobs. Therefore, we never once thought of living in Iowa after we left in 2003! However, there in print was an important position that paid higher than his current position. So, we thought what the heck, and Joe applied.

The first week of March, which was also the first day that the job was taken offline/interviews started, the Des Moines location called Joe at 8 am for a phone interview. He felt it went well, however two days later they said the position had been filled. Obviously they already had someone in mind when the job was posted but we weren't upset, figuring it was probably best since I was in my second trimester of pregnancy.

So, imagine our surprise when out of the blue last Friday, April 15 they called to say that there is another of the same position open and that they liked Joe's phone interview and wanted to do a second interview with him this past Wednesday, April 20!

It went well, with the guy who would be his boss. He told Joe that he passed the interview, although he has to pass the results on to the rest of his team but said "they would be crazy" not to call him for the final interview this week. He also told Joe that he had one of the best resumes he's ever seen. (Joe has been interviewed by every place that he's ever applied to in his life and been offered every job except for Google last year and immediately following his graduation from college - Microsoft in Seattle.)

Therefore, it seems like a strong possibility that Joe will be offered the job. Both of us freaked out a little because we had it set in our minds that we would be spending the next year here, plus I am now in the third trimester so now this is lining up right with the birth of our baby!

So, the determining factor may be whether they allow him to start in August. We decided that moving before the baby would NOT be a good idea so if they say they need him immediately then it is not meant to be.

It would still be stressful to move in August, and if it was anywhere else we wouldn't do it, but since it's just two hours away, we've lived in the area before, and all of our family and old friends are there it should be the easiest adjustment out of any move in the U.S.!

There are A LOT of pros to moving back to the area, in fact most of the cons to living in Omaha would be eliminated (all except that the weather is the same, haha) -- but of course some of the pros to living in Omaha would be the cons to living in Des Moines. However, that's going to happen no matter when and where we move, as no place is going to perfect.

Still, is now the time to take this risk? Are we ready to change the course of our lives forever? I think that moving is the #1 most influential aspect of anyone's life. Any other change that we deal with doesn't change every single other part. With moving, everything that follows is based on it!

Needless to say, I've been nostalgic this week. I look around this house and think "It's Logan. It's where I found out I was pregnant, where my water broke, and where he and I have shared memories the past 3 yrs." Not to mention, this is a great house and housing is better here, will we be able to find one there that we like as much?

I drive around Omaha and think, "I'm connected now to so many places. There's a familiarity and comfort with wherever I go. Plus, Omaha is the only place where Joe and I have had a marriage -- we essentially became adults here."

And finally, the friends I've made here. Luckily, Brooke is from Iowa, too, and the rest of her family lives in Des Moines where she frequents a lot so I am confident we would be able to still see each other. And, I plan to continue coming to Omaha for as long as I can for Stacy to do my hair which will give me an excuse to come back and hang out with all of my other friends, too.

So, I like that I'd have a transition to closure rather than if we moved to Chicago or North Carolina it would be a quick goodbye and truthfully we'd probably never visit.

This way our baby would be around a month old when we'd start the process of getting our house ready for market. Joe would move in with his mom while I stayed here for a few more weeks to pack and get the house painted or whatever, while he'd look for an apartment that could accomodate two adults, two kids, and two dogs. We don't want to stay in our house this time to show and sell it (that was stressful 4 yrs ago before we had kids!); not sure if we'll leave some stuff here to stage it or move everything, but either way we'd put most of our things in storage and then the dogs, kids, and I would move in September. We'd come back frequently until our house sells to make sure it stays in good shape, but hopefully it wouldn't take long to sell so that we wouldn't have to stay in an apartment for very long and can buy a house -- probably in Urbandale or Clive (suburbs of West Des Moines).

Meanwhile, Joe's main fear is that he doesn't want to end up working at a job that he doesn't like. But if worse comes to worse maybe we could move back here, and since we tried something else then we would be content to stay here. Or, we'd have one more chance (since Logan doesn't turn 7 for 4 more years) to move to Chicago or North Carolina.

It's just crazy to think that our time here could really be coming to an end. I remember finding out that we were moving from Iowa to Nebraska as if it was yesterday. You'd think we would have learned from the two times before to stop doing everything at once, LOL. Seriously, Joe started his first job, we got married, and moved here all within two weeks. Then, 4 years later Joe started his new job, we bought a new house, sold our old house, and found out we were pregnant all roughly at the same time. Now, if he does take this job, he will be starting one again just after having a baby and moving! But, hopefully the short term stress would be overshadowed by the long-term LESS stress of living in a place where we'd have help from our family as we raise our two children, and being in a place that feels like home with good, true friends from our youth!

We will see. . .we're praying to God to make it obvious whether this is the right decision!