Life Updates and the Unknown

Engagement Picture: October 2010

We have finally started to pack. It all seems to be coming up so soon.

What exactly is coming up or changing? Well, it seems that almost everything is changing. Just today (Tuesday) I defended my final paper for my masters degree and passed! Packing has been going on full blast and our apartment is in pieces.

See, back in March I accepted a job.....well....a summer job. In a tiny isolated town in beautiful central Idaho, I accepted a summer position with a non profit up working as a historic specialist where I will help doing various tasks including working in a museum (and living there! It's an old historic ranger station. The history nerd in me squeals with delight about it all!) and leading tours. I. am. so. excited.

Accepting the job meant a few things. One was that DJ had to wait to start looking for jobs. That was okay because he is still finishing Calc II. It also meant that we needed to pack up our apartment, put everything in storage and take up personal items only.  D quit his job at Wingers. I finished school. All life changes coming at us 100 miles per hour.

So basically I tell people this: Yes we packed up all our stuff and spending the summer in central Idaho and oh come fall, we might be homeless and jobless if we don't find employment by end of summer.

Most people's response: Wow. That's scary!!

Thank you kind people for pointing out that yes, indeed, it's scary as hell. But also exciting and adventurous and when will we ever have a chance to do this again? We don't have a mortgage, or kids, or steady jobs and why not?

D and I are ready for a change. I thrive and grow on change. But that of course doesn't mean I'm not a little sad to say goodbye to my home of 7 years, 5 of which where in the same apartment.

As I sat in the tornado of our belongings, packing up box after box of books (I'm up to 8 :) I got a bit sentimental.

For the last 5 years we have lived in a tiny apartment and I couldn't help but of all the life that happened in that place. D and I moved into together in this apartment, we got engaged here, we got married here, we rearranged the place after the wedding to make it feel new.

We experienced joy, sadness, death, 4 funerals, a few weddings. We fought in this apartment and fell even more in love. We laughed so hard I'm sure our neighbors heard us (probably fought as loud. You're welcome neighbors! Payback for the times we heard your squeaky bed. *shudders*)

 I found out my dad had cancer, that he was in remission and that it had come back while living here. I graduated college in this apartment and finished my masters degree. DJ's car got broken into twice here (one time, even got his stuff back). We had drunken dance parties and threw down countless bottles (sometimes boxes) of wine with friends. I found out our journey towards kids would be different than everyone's else's. I wrote a book here. We took vacations here (Vegas, road trips, Florida) We had yearly gumbo nights and pumpkin carving where we ate too many tootie frooties (JK-no such thing). So many things.

 So I sat in the room with a plastic cup full of red wine, surrounded by books and boxes and I cried over all the life that happened here. All the good and bad and everything in between.

Yes, D and I are scared about the unknown but I know that together we make a pretty good team and we will be fine as long as we have each other. That while it might be scary it's also exciting and I can't wait to see what adventures are in store for us.

I plan on blogging more this summer about all the cool things we do and see in central Idaho. No worries, I have a list ;)