Onward and Southward

For the past month, I have been substitute teaching at an elementary school in Jonesboro. It has been a completely new experience that I never would have imagined delving into. My sister is the teacher, not me. But I have enjoyed it. It has helped demystify children and I now know Common Core math. Well, as much as anyone can know Common Core math.

I thought I would teach until Luke and I squirreled away enough money to travel. As with most of my well-laid plans, something came up. A position opened up at McDaniel, Richardson & Calhoun in Little Rock. Gen. Dustin McDaniel needed an assistant. Throwing caution to the wind, I submitted my resume. Over the past few weeks, I worked through the application and interview process.

In the midst of all this, Luke and I started looking at apartments in and around Little Rock. We found one building we fell in love with after stumbling around on Google for a bit. It was spacious, it came with a gated parking lot, and above all, wasn’t at a San Francisco price.  After my in-person interview this past Monday, we took a detour on our way out of town and stopped to look at the apartment complex. I don’t know if it was adrenaline from the interview or our attempt to be more spontaneous, but we ended up filling out an application and being approved that day.

Still reeling from the wedding on Friday and the new apartment on Monday, I woke up Tuesday with a bit of apprehension. What if I didn’t get a job? There were a lot of qualified candidates. And if I didn’t get a job, what would I do for a year? The position I vied for at the Clinton Foundation was being filled via consolidation. I would work any job given to me, but how long would it take before I could convince Starbucks to take me on? Did I even want to take a job? What if Luke and I just packed up the kids and moved to Europe? I always wanted to live in Italy. Maybe I would open up a tea shop. Luke, ever patient, told me we would figure something out in any situation, be it stateside or abroad. As I battled my self-doubt, I was extended the job offer. When I finally managed to catch my breath, I accepted the offer to start next Monday.

So now here we are with just a few days to pack, move, and adjust to a new home and job. Luckily, the new marital status doesn’t change much- we are still as loving and contrary as our first date. But with the move, I don’t get the luxury of my scale model packing diagrams I crafted for our move from California. Then again, I also don’t have to figure out how to pack all our worldly possessions in a wooden crate and Prius for a 33 hour drive. Perhaps, just perhaps, we can survive this 2 hour relocation; only time, and the Sid, will tell.