I can’t believe I’ve forgotten to blog about this, but apparently I did: we’re moving to Seattle.
When: it depends on when our house sells. It’s on the market now. We’ve had a few showings, with good feedback thus far. In fact, as I was writing this, we got notice of another showing tomorrow, and we have an open house on Sunday. Houses are selling better in Perrysburg and Sylvania than in the overall metro Toledo area, so we’ll have to see what happens. We might get a buyer tomorrow, or it might be in 2010. This uncertainty would normally be driving me CRAZY but it hasn’t been too bad (see below to find out why).
How: we don’t know yet. Ideally the house here would sell before the kids start school in the Seattle area (so, before about 1 September); that way we could move without the disruption inherent in a mid-year move. We’ll probably do the U-Pack thing again, at least for most of our furniture, then hire a real mover for anything fragile or valuable. That’s probably the best balance between cost, hassle, and breakage. As of right now we’re planning to drive cross-country to actually get there, but we’ll have to see what the weather’s like when we get ready to go. Matt and I want to hit the C.M. Russell museum’s bison exhibit on the way if at all possible, and according to Tim and Julie there are lots of other cool things to do en route.
Why: this is a simple question, but with a complicated answer. We moved here in 2002 to be closer to my parents after my dad had an unexpected blood clot that hospitalized him; Tim being here was an unexpected bonus. We quickly grew to love Perrysburg. People here have a great sense of community, our local church ward is full of wonderful people, the schools are excellent, and it’s a vibrant place with excellent services.
Over the last 18 months or so, though, I’ve gradually developed the realization that it would be best for 3Sharp if I were in Redmond more often, even permanently. After Dad’s accident, Mom decided to move down to Louisiana, and with Tim gone too, much of the initial reason to live here was gone. Arlene and I started talking about the possibility of moving several months ago, but neither of us took it seriously– we agreed to put off a serious exploration until after New Year’s Day. So, we did, and all was well.
I thought about moving, and made some desultory (and, frankly, rather lazy) attempts to pray for guidance, but to no avail. Shortly after the first of the year, we had a Sunday School lesson that covered Doctrine and Covenants section 9. I was already generally familiar with the principle: the Lord expects us to do the legwork, examine alternatives and options, and make decisions using the brains He gave us. We can always seek confirmation of our decision, but that’s not the same as asking Him to tell you what to do. That was the missing ingredient.
So, I went back and started really thinking about it seriously. What were the pros? (Where to begin? Much less travel for me; great opportunities for growth for the whole family; proximity to the temple; beautiful scenery; new things to explore; a really diverse environment for the boys, a whole new part of the country to explore, more gluten-free foods…) What were the cons? (Housing costs, obviously, plus the upheaval of dragging everyone across the country, particularly for Arlene) On balance, I decided that the pros outweighed the cons, so I told Arlene what I’d been thinking about. She too had been giving the idea a more serious look. Once we started praying about it, it became clear that moving was the right thing for our family to do– but that it would happen when it happened, not necessarily on our schedule.
Where: somewhere on the east side of the metro area. Our office is in Redmond, so I’d like to be reasonably close to it. There are some great bargains in Snoqualmie and other nearby areas, but I don’t know if I’m ready to take on a 30+ minute commute each way after nearly 11 years of commuting from the breakfast room to my office down the hall. I’ll be in the office some days and working from home some days, so that will help make the transition easier. We’ve been making heavy use of Redfin to look for houses: partly because it’s effective, and partly because it’s fun to window-shop.
More news when there is news– now I have to go clean up my office before the showing tomorrow.
Paul's Down-Home Page 