Potential Move

My husband works at a relatively small company, and his career just isn’t growing there, and it’s not likely to do so in the future.  And financially, we were better off at his last employer eight years ago!  So after talking about it, we decided maybe it was time for a change.  It’s tough to go to work every day and know you’re just dead in the water.  So when several employment recruiters starting contacting him regularly, we decided it was time to talk to them.

That was two weeks ago.  A lot of the opportunities seemed to stem from Florida, so we did our homework and scoped out the real estate, homeschool laws, and cost of living there.  But nothing panned out there after all.  Then a surprising turn happened.  A Tampa-based company who interviewed him by phone revealed in a second interview that the job they were trying to fill was actually located right in our home state!  That was good news, because moving out-of-state would put the kids’ prepaid college funds at risk, and our oldest son will be graduating high school in June, making that of the utmost importance for him.

He also spoke to a company in TX, but the possibility of staying in Virginia was a real draw.  And to boot, the job sounds like a really unique and promising opportunity, and it would definitely advance his career.  The position is in Reston, VA, and what that means to us is that we could possibly move to the Shenandoah Valley and commute!  We had planned to retire in the mountains in about 10 years anyway when all the kids have graduated and we’ve paid off our mortgages.  But this opportunity would mean we could put down roots where we want to retire now and start enjoying a slower pace out in the countryside a bit.  Aaaaah…the fresh, clean mountain air just can’t be beat!

So this week, he has a 3rd phone interview with a VP at the company, and then on Friday, he’ll have an in-person interview when the representative happens to be coming to town here locally.  Now they told him at the very beginning that if he got to that 4th interview, it would basically be a formality at that point, which we took to mean that an offer would be imminent, and the details would just have to be ironed out at that point.  So we feel pretty confident that an offer may be coming at the end of the week!  I just hope they can work out the details so that everyone is happy.  The position sounds great, though.  We definitely couldn’t afford to live in Reston, but living where we want to retire would be very affordable, and it would entail just over an hour’s commute.  That seems like an entirely reasonable sacrifice to be living on some land out in the woods with a mountain view!

As it so happens, we’ll be on vacation up there next month at a cabin we go to every year with our family, so if he has secured a position by then, we’ll be able to take a look at some houses up there while we’re in town.  I’ve spent this weekend daydreaming at all the possible homes for sale in the area and making a list of ones we might like to see.

I know getting through this week will seem like an eternity for all of us.  The kids are getting excited at the prospect of a new family adventure, and patience is not our forte!  LOL

The downside is that I’d have to empty out and pack up a house we’ve lived in for the last 20 years with 3 kids who have all grown up in this house.  That’s a lot of memories and a lot of stuff.  That part will be hard.  And Steve would probably go on ahead and start the new job next month, right after our vacation.  That means I’ll have tons to do here, and I’ve got to get Hayden through his graduation in June before getting this house ready to rent out.  It would definitely be a lot to take on, mostly by myself.  But I’m ready!  On to the next adventure…

And in the meantime, I’ll be dreaming about this little cabin in the woods…