After four years of snowy, small-town fun and adventure, it looks like we’re really leaving the Sierra Nevadas. For reals. Actually. Truly.
We’re leaving California and Ojai and Westwood, and moving to Austin, Texas. Or thereabouts.
It’s not terribly shocking news. We’ve been toying with the idea for a couple of years now, since it’s Jason’s beloved hometown, and a good place to home school and maybe buy a house someday, and it’s where he’d like to plant a church. Plus, if there were any place outside of California I’d feel comfortable being my liberal-loving, conservative, semi-bohemian self, it would be in Austin with all its Ojai-reminiscent weirdos. (KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD!! See? I’m already practicing.) But one of the biggest reasons is that Jason’s mom, Pearl, still lives there. We’d like to be close to her and give the kids lots of opportunity to get to know her, the way they’ve known my parents. So yeah, Austin was kind of on the table for a long time.
The sort-of-shocking news is that we’re going now. Like right now. As in weeks. And not many weeks either. I had it in my head that when it finally happened it would happen fast, and it did. Or is. Or will. It’s still a crazy quick mystery. But it’s better fast, like ripping off a band-aid. And it needs to be now, because Pearl is already starting treatments for cancer (and could use some prayers), and we definitely want to be there for her through it all. So Jason is tying up loose ends at work, putting out resumes, contacting friends and allies, etc. We’re going as soon as he has at least part time work, even if it means the kids and I stay in Lufkin for a few weeks while we wait for a house and full-time job arrangement. We expect to be there before Christmas. It’s weird to think of having Christmas in limbo, but maybe we’ll be moved in somewhere by then. Maybe. We’ll make do in any event.
Right now the questions we’re trying to answer are The Work Question. . . How much and where and when? Storage here or in Austin? Rent a truck now or after we have a house? What to keep/give? Homeschool in between? Finding a home to rent? Hasdrmebnrem? It’s leaking out my ears, I think.
Also, I’m stoked. I always get a little giddy when it’s time for a big move. But this one feels different. A lot of my excitement this time centers on the fact that Austin seems like a place where we could actually live, like for a good long while. I’ve never wanted to stay anywhere before. But the kids are older, and so am I. Anna keeps crying when I mention leaving here. I remember that feeling of driving away from the most beautiful place in the world and all the friends you’ve ever had to go to some unknown state with new people and new rules. I’m hoping that this is a place where they can finish growing up, like I did in Ojai, without being pulled up and re-planted every few years. Once you get past a certain age, that just isn’t so fun anymore. And it hurts your back!
So that’s the deal. We’ll have a brief trip to Ojai next week where we hope to say goodbye to lots of our friends. My parents are leaving there too, in a few months, after eighteen years! So it’s a pretty big good-bye. The week after that we hope to be loading up a truck and heading down the 10. And yes, I’m already packing. It’s last minute enough without my tendency to procrastinate. 😉
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