It’s crazy to see the difference a year can make in your own life. I love looking through old pictures, but at the same time, it sometimes makes me sad. Today, through the lens of bittersweetness, I’m going to show you where our journey began.
One year ago, we merely had dreams of an Alaska move. We didn’t know if our house would sell. (And we weren’t going to leave if it didn’t.) We didn’t know what it would sell for, if it would even be worth our time. We didn’t know what the road ahead would be like. But we had dreams…of beautiful clouds, of peaceful rivers, of glorious mountains.
We would lay awake at night and talk about the possibilities. What would it be like to live in Alaska? What would it be like to have a full winter, with snow and ice and beauty all around? What would it be like, to live in a place where most people actually are there by choice and love to be there? What would a fresh start be like for us? Yes, we had dreams….of endless outdoor adventures, of beckoning skies, of amazing sunsets.
So this time last year, I made us a dinner of Pho that we leisurely were able to eat as the kids were already in bed. (Strict bedtimes….. Yeah that’s now a thing of the past). It was Friday and the day that I resigned from my job of “Office Coordinator” at Up With Trees. Truly, I loved working for such an beautiful organization with such amazing people, but I knew it wasn’t where I belonged. I wanted to be home and have that time to devote to getting our house ready for sale. I had discussed it with the husband unit and he agreed: I could quit my job, stay home and get the house ready for sale. Truth be told, I didn’t make enough money at my job to counteract the amount it cost to put Declan in daycare and it was worth it for me to stay home to give 100% of my focus to the house. Max was already in a private school, where we planned on him finishing out the year… which, for the record, killed me to leave the school and the people behind.
(The two Irish end caps are ours.)
So that Friday, I indeed did quit my job. And it was bittersweet. There were several amazing people I worked with that I knew I would dearly miss, but I had to give it up. I hated to leave their often smiling, sometimes grumpy, but forever caring faces behind. But I knew I needed to do this in order to make our dreams come true. The house wasn’t going to just fix itself, so I was determined to give everything I had in order to make this house sale work.
Saturday was our very last awards banquet to attend for the hubby’s job. I had been to so many of these that I lost track. I enjoyed these times away from the kids where I could stand by my husband, being proud of who he was and what he had accomplished. I knew it was probably the last, so I enjoyed it all the more. Although, since we hadn’t told many people of our endeavors, I kept that last part to myself and just enjoyed the night.
Little did I know, just 3 days after quitting my job, I would find out I was pregnant.
SURPRISE! Yes…. I never claimed to be great at math. I remember getting a text that day from my sweet friend, saying “hey did you take that pregnancy test yet?” To which I replied “I’m pregnant” to which she replied something like “whatever.” HA. Imagine her shock. (Actually, imagine mine.) Oh, the pregnancy! This pregnancy was not going to be easy. (But that’s a different post for a different time.)
I was supposed to be getting the house ready for sale, remember? The husband unit ended up doing about 99% of the work. My biggest accomplishment was having Declan paint the front door green….because who wants a white boring front door? And I was all pregnant and nauseous, remember?
So that’s where we were a year ago. All of these things got the ball rolling for this Alaska move. All of these things contributed their part to our dream. And ya know…Had I had it all to do over again, I can’t say I would have changed a thing. This truly is where the adventure began… and I was so ready for it!
