September Vacation

Knowing that our time in this area is limited, the Outer Banks has been at the top of my must-see-before-we-leave list.  In September we were able to make it happen. 

We left on a Saturday, right after soccer games.  Daddy is always on the hunt for more pressed pennies, so we made a few unscheduled stops like this one: 

We stayed the night in Richmond, then proceeded south the next morning.  We stopped in Norfolk at the Nauticus museum.  We almost had the place to ourselves!

We also got a shot with Grave Digger (still looking for those pennies.....)

The kids' first view of the Atlantic Ocean.  The weather was nice for most of our trip.  Sunny, high 70's.  The wind was constant (there's a reason the Wright Brothers chose Kill Devil Hills for their flying experiments), and after the first few days the seas became fairly rough.  But not bad enough to keep us away!

We visited the Roanoke site, learning about the Lost Colony.  

And saw most of the famous lighthouses.  

Bodie Island

Cape Hatteras

The kids also learned to Boogie Board

Currituck Lighthouse

 And of course, we had to visit the Wright Brother's Memorial.  

It was so cool to learn about their process, to walk the path of their first 4 flights, and to see the reconstructed workshop.  I also did not know that this is one of the only national memorials where one of the people it is dedicated to was actually at the opening ceremonies (Orville).  

The details: We stayed in Kill Devil Hills in a condo I rented online.  It was wonderful!  We had plenty of space, and the beach was a short walk across the street.  The condo was equipped with a full kitchen, washer/dryer, board games, books, beach chairs, sand toys - everything we needed.  We spent time at the beach each day, but also explored the surrounding area.  Because we visited after school was back in session the crowds were very manageable.  Still plenty of people on the beach, but it wasn't "crowded".  It was a 4 star family vacation!

A Revelation

We know we're moving.

It's not until next summer, but the thought always lurks in the back of my head.... "you're moving... are you ready?.... where will you live?  what will you do?  when will it happen?  are you purging the house yet? do you really need to buy that?  you'll just have to pack it....."

As you can see, I have a very ACTIVE inner monologue.  This is the reason I look tired all the time.

I've worked since I was 14.  My longest stretch without a job was late 2009-early 2012, after I was laid off (a dark time).  I've been working part-time for going on 2 1/2 years, and while the job is.... a job, I can't complain about the workload, the pay, or the hours.  I like working.  I like the interaction with other adults, and frankly, I like the satisfaction of earning a paycheck & contributing to the family (or to my handbag collection).  When The Move was decided, I started thinking about where I would work and when I would start to look for that work.  Matt and I talked about it.  He encouraged me to think about what I wanted to do & where I should do it.  There is a Prestigious University in this new town of ours, and I like the idea of being able to say "Oh yes, I work at _____." But then I started looking at jobs and working hours, and thinking.

Right now it's Fall.  School has only been in session for 9 weeks or so, but every day when I finish work at 1pm, I feel like it's a sprint to bedtime.  Errands, exercise, soccer practice, music lessons, church activities, meetings, school pickup, doctor appointments, cleaning, laundry, dinner prep, lunch prep, grocery shopping.  You know the drill.  Most of my days end with me mentally tallying up what didn't get done, and feeling bad about it all.  I know things will quiet down a bit once soccer ends, but it starts again just a few months later.  

I found a full-time job at The Prestigious University that I think would be perfect for me.  I know we're a long way out, but I like to plan & plot & process as much as I can, and this job had me doing all those things.  And then A Revelation came.

At the end of one of those long-sprint days, I suddenly thought "Why would I do that to myself?".  If I only work 20 hours a week right now and I feel like I'm barely keeping it together, what makes me think that working 40 hours a week is do-able?  Much less a GOOD idea?  Do not mistake what I'm saying.  I know there are millions of two-income households who do this every day, and are just fine.  They've got it dialed in (or at least they look like they do), and I envy them.  But for me and  MY household, I just couldn't stop thinking: Why?  Why add to the stress?  Why add to the guilt?  Why add to the last minute pizza runs that still happen too often for my liking?

I am incredibly fortunate that I have the option to think these thoughts, much less make a decision.  And then I read an article online that gave me great comfort about opting out of working.  The perspective was that having someone at home running the household is a gift to the family.  It's a gift that one of us doesn't have to spend precious weekend time slogging through the grocery store.  It's a gift that we can sit down to dinner at 5pm each day.  It's a gift that someone doesn't have to take off an entire work day to wait for the cable installer to show up.  It's a gift that the end of the work week doesn't mean facing 14 loads of laundry or squeezing in extra time working on a PowerPoint sales pitch while the kids are at track practice.  Staying home can be the contribution that I need and want to make for my family.    

And suddenly I felt better.  I felt like the choice - which was never really even a choice - was made.    

And I'm grateful.

No Good Reason

For days I've thought about how to get back to blogging.  And why I stopped in the first place.  There was no defined reason.  Life, really.  You know, the same life that allows relatives to go months without talking, or random phone calls to go unreturned, or pictures to remain undusted, or to-do lists that languish for weeks.

Life.  

And there was also the feeling that my online life was becoming a drudgery.  The internet is such a crowded space, with so many voices talking, talking, talking all the time.  

And sometimes I really just don't want to add to the noise.  Because that's what so much of it feels like - just a lot of white noise, with no real substance or place or meaning.  A jumble of not very well-written words that do little or nothing to uplift or provoke meaningful thought.  So much narcissism. 

But we've had a lot of changes around here, with more to come in the next 10 months, so I guess that while there's no real excuse for not blogging, there's also the same lack of reason to not get back to it. 

And here we are.  

To update: 

• April: Soccer season, games every weekend, a new car for me, a job offer for Matt (or was it two?), and another interview.  
• May: Soccer season continues, The Honda gets rear-ended (not my fault!), Matt started a 2 month stretch out of town, another job offer, school ends.  
• June: Kids go to day camp for the summer, Matt still gone, Matt accepted a job, I applied for a new job.  
• July: More day camp, a visit from Grandma H, job interview for me (I didn't get it), Matt is home!
• August:  My birthday (it was wonderful), Grandma M visits, M starts middle school, J starts at a new school, soccer season begins.    
• September: Soccer continues, family vacation to the Outer Banks, Matt gets a new car, we say good-bye to The Honda (I had that car longer than I've had Matt!), Matt moonlights, and the countdown to finishing residency begins.

And here we are.  

We are all healthy and well.  

Pictures to come.