Shortly after we returned from our honeymoon (I will update on that soon, promise!) we announced that we were moving to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. That plan that we’d dreamed about and talked about for nearly two years was becoming a reality. I’d already put in my notice at work; today marks one month of joblessness. We’d only told our family and a few friends. We delayed telling everyone because we didn’t want the wedding to be a going away party.
The plan was for me to quit my job and pack up my things. I was to stay with Josh’s mom in Cary until he finished school (so that I could hopefully land a job and find us a good place to live), at which point I would go back home for Christmas and we would bring everything back. Josh and I loaded up my car, dropped off the pooch with my parents, and set off on a three-day drive to North Carolina. We left last Friday. We listened to music, talked, took turns driving, I read a terribly written crime mystery to him from my Kindle. The first day, we drove for 11 hours before settling in Abilene. The first day was the worst drive. West Texas is brutal.
Day Two was prettier as we ventured into East Texas and made our way to Birmingham for the night. We abandoned music for audiobooks until we decided to start listening to artists who were regionally appropriate. Jay Reatard was a hit in Mississippi and Britney Spears was the artist of choice for a brief jaunt through Louisiana. I ditched the terrible crime drama and began reading from a tawdry erotic fiction book which provided us with some good laughs.
The first night on the road was hard. I am so so so close to my family, and I don’t think that I’d allowed the gravity of the situation to hit me until that moment. I was moving 2,000 miles away. I wouldn’t be able to visit every Sunday for dinner. The days of wasting summer days by the pool were gone. I was scared and – honestly – devastated.
But we pushed on. And magically, as the climate improved, as the yellow flat-land turned into rolling hills of green and yellow and red trees, I started feeling better. By day 3 on the road, my excitement about this new chapter returned. We rolled into Cary on Sunday, and Josh left Monday afternoon.
Since arriving, things have been okay. I am going to meet with someone who works with Josh’s mom and is about my age. I had Phase 4 of the application process with a really great job yesterday and it went really well – on to Phase 5 next week. I have an interview with a different company on Monday. I got to go shopping for fancy new interview clothes which is always fun. I’ve gone exploring through neighborhoods. I now understand why tourists in Arizona take pictures of cacti as I am in complete awe of the landscape here.
I miss my family and friends terribly, but I talked to my mom for awhile on the phone yesterday and I talk to Josh everyday. We started Skype-ing, which makes a world of difference. I even get to see my puppy on Skype, although I only keep his attention for a few moments before he goes to sleep (he is a lazy bum).
I’m not entirely sure what the future holds now, and I am entirely okay with that. For the first time in my life, I feel fine not having a solid plan in place. I am filled with an overwhelming sense of everything-is-going-to-be-okay.
