For the last few years, it's kind of felt like our lives were on pause. We had some awesome babies, went to work and did our thing, but since we knew we were going to be moving at some point we avoided things that would make the transition harder. We tried not to buy furniture or big things because we knew it would be too hard to take with us. We would see stuff in stores and say, "I'll wait and buy that in Portland". Mark didn't try to get a better position at one of his schools because it would only be temporary until the move, and he was afraid it would look bad to leave a new position after only a few months. I had my friends that I enjoyed working with but I didn't really socialize much outside of work. Most of our time and energy outside of raising our cutie pies was to facilitate this move, and for several years we just felt like we were in a holding pattern. I talked about moving a lot at work, but I got the feeling that a lot of people didn't really think we were serious. So when the time came and I actually quit my job, people I think some people were pretty surprised. And during my final few weeks, I was in some serious shock. I definitely got graduation goggles at the end there, and it was hard to say goodbye to people I had worked with for so long.
So, I had put my resignation in because we thought we were all going to have to be out of the house by the end of May...but a few days later we found out that the realtor was kind of shady and the contract ended up falling through. For a while my mom encouraged me to rescind my resignation, but we forged ahead and started trying to find housing. We decided that if we got this apartment, we were going, and that's what happened. About a week before we were supposed to leave, I decided to try and sell our second car instead of paying a ridiculous amount to have it shipped. It was a great car and it was paid off, but saving the money from not shipping it and getting the cash for it's sale seemed like it would be the best plan since we were going to leave without me having a job lined up yet.
Around the same time I decided to sell the car, my phone rang one day while I was doing laundry. I noticed it was a Portland number so I answered it, and it was a nurse manager for one of the positions I had applied for, at the hospital that I really wanted to work at. She asked if I wanted to come in for an interview, and I told her that we wouldn't be in the area until May 31st. So, we talked on the phone for a bit and she told me about the unit and the position, I told her what I had been doing for the past few years and it seemed to go really well, though it didn't really feel like an interview at all. I was very hopeful that this job would be one to pan out.
Luckily, I managed to sell the car incredibly easily. It only took a few days and it sold for a great price. I was a little sad to see it go, but we knew it really wasn't necessary for us to have 2 cars here, and the expense of shipping it just didn't make sense.
So during our final week in Florida, we were incredibly busy. We were packing the pod, packing boxes, cleaning, I still had to finish work, and say goodbye to my friends there. They threw a great going-away party for me, and a few of us went out downtown for a while afterwards. Of course, it was when I was leaving that I would start going out and doing fun things! We still had tons and tons of packing to do, and a bit of shopping for the roadtrip too. We had to get the car checked out, and ended up needing to get new brakes and new tires and a new battery - $$$$. We had some of my friends come over to the house one night and we all drank a bunch of beer and hung out and had a great time...it's sad that we never managed to do that prior to me leaving.
Things were just so incredibly hectic those last few days, it's kind of hard to remember it all. It was a whirlwind of packing and crying and trying to soak in a few more memories of the home that I grew up in.
No comments:
Post a Comment