The Decision

I wrote a post a while back called “Vacations for the Broke and Unemployed” about my visit to my Aunt and Uncle in Virginia. What I didn’t mention in that post was one very important result. While there, Jim the boyfriend decided that we were going to move there. He has been wanting to move south since I met him. 

“It’s warmer, it’s cheaper and the people are nicer,” he says, but I know his main reason is so he can ride his motorcycle all year round.  When he first said he wanted to move, I thought it was just another conversation that we would forget about in a few weeks.  But while we were there, he applied to a college.  And then he worked some voodoo magic to convince me it was a good idea.

I have lived in the same small town since I before I can remember.  We moved to Lincoln when I was a baby, and I went to school here, got my first job at the town pool, then started working at the town camp, then the after-school program, then started subbing at the same school I went to as a kid.  I’ve gone full circle through this town.  I can walk to my bank, the grocery store and my favorite pizza and sandwich shops, and I know where everything is, and half the people in the town.  Why would I ever want to leave?

But maybe that’s why I should leave.  I walked to work one day and on the way, I’m pretty sure I passed one, if not two of my ex-boyfriends’ moms.  And that’s when I had my real epiphany. I just graduated college and I’ve had zero luck trying to find a job in this area.  I’ve already started drifting from most of my friends (sorry guys, but you know it’s true) and once we get real jobs we’re gonna drift even more.  Other than my family and my overabundance of nostalgia, there’s really nothing holding me here.  If anything, this is probably the best time that I could possibly make this kind of big life change.  What have I got to lose?

So, even though Jim had already made his decision, and was already accepted to that college, and had already started looking for apartments—I had just been faking my compliance with the idea.  I knew it was happening, and I knew I was going to do it, but I wasn’t really ready.  After the ex-mom realization, I started getting pumped, started looking for jobs and apartments, and lo and behold, I found an apartment! You'll find out more in the next post.