are you ready for us, tennessee?

 Seven years ago, Jeff dragged me kicking and screaming to Wyoming. I, of course, learned to love Wyoming, especially the people.  We thought it was where we were going to be forever.  Three years ago we built our dream home in our small little town.  We have loved our house and we have loved the people we have met in both towns we lived in.  This past summer some changes happened at Jeff's job and it gave us the push to start questioning whether he wanted to stay with his company forever.  Since we were so happy with our house and the people we have met here, it took us a really long time to even consider switching employment.  We tossed around the idea of other companies around here, but the only thing that felt right, was leaving completely.  Jeff got in touch with a few recruiters and we were determined to be extremely picky about where we would actually consider moving. He had an interview with a company in Texas and they were ready to fly him out but we really, really did not want to go back to Texas.  I mean, ever.  There are a lot of jobs in the gulf but we really did not want to go that way.  The recruiters kept coming up with jobs, and we kept turning them down.  We decided if we were really going to move our family, there would be very few places we would consider: Tennessee was our number one choice, parts of North or South Carolina, or possibly parts of Kentucky or north Georgia.  The recruiters let us know we were being picky and that there just weren't a lot of jobs in the areas we wanted to be for chemical engineers.  That was no big deal for us.  I mean, Jeff had a good, steady job and we were in no hurry to leave our house.

Oh and the house.  When we built our house we knew selling it would be difficult, but that was no big deal to us because we weren't ever planning on leaving.  Houses around here don't really sell and there is really no market for a house in our price range.  We figured if we left, we would have to take a huge financial hit.  One day in October we decided to call a realtor and just see what kind of hit we were looking at so we knew if we should just drop the whole idea anyway.  She came over and told us there were no buyers really at all, and especially not in our price range but that if someone ever happened to come looking for a house like ours she would see if we were still considering selling.  We figured that was the end of it, but Jeff kept sending out resumes occasionally.  Every time we would think about staying, things at work would go really badly.  In January the realtor texted me asking if we were still considering selling.  I told her Jeff didn't have a job or any leads.  She said she might have someone interested.  They wanted to see it and I said that was fine, but I made sure to let the realtor know it was not for sale because we didn't have a job.  Long story short, the people wanted to buy it and were willing to go into a contract contingent upon Jeff finding a job in 30 days.  30 days.  Honestly. We thought, well, nothing has happened in 5 months, so the chances of anything working out were slim to none, but we had nothing to lose.  Around day 20, Jeff and one of his favorite bosses reconnected on LinkedIn.  Then Jeff found out from another colleague that this boss was in Tennessee.  Tennesssee?  What?  He was in the Nashville area and we were looking more towards Chattanooga.  Jeff sent him a message congratulating him on the new job and mentioned to keep him mind if any positions popped open.  His boss called him that night so excited about the possibility of hiring Jeff and that a job might open in the next few months.  Well, a job did open on day 28 of the contract with our house.  Another job opportunity for a local company came at the same time.  It was so confusing!  The buyers were willing to extend the contract on the house another 30 days since we had something concrete in the works.  We decided to fly out and visit my brother and check out the area just in case Jeff got an interview.  We knew Jeff's old boss, who is the plant manager at the plant, wouldn't be able to pick who they hired, but at least Jeff had a better chance for an interview.  We bought our plane tickets and figured he might fly out again at a later date, but at least this way I would see the area and know if I could picture us there.  A few days after we bought our tickets, the company called wanting to fly Jeff out for an interview the same weekend we were going to be there.  We figured this was perfect because if the company didn't buy the plane ticket and we decided against it, we wouldn't feel obligated that they had spent money, etc on us.  We went, and of course, there was that huge ice storm.  The interview went well, but we panicked.  This was a HUGE move and the reality of it started to sink it.  We thought we had made our mind up that we were not going to move.

We got home and I thought we would feel peace about staying where we were.  We didn't.  Both of us couldn't stop thinking about moving there.  A lot of other things happened that I won't go into detail about that just helped me feel more at peace with moving.  Every time I would have a doubt about something, literally the next day someone or something would happen that made me calm about whatever I was worried about.

The offer came this week and I have not seen Jeff so happy in a really, really long time.  I feel like we are getting him back.  He cannot wait for this opportunity. It's a great career move and he seriously cannot wait to work with his old boss.  I think it's going to be good for our family but when I think of all the things that have to happen before we move in 4 or 5 short weeks, I panic just a little.  I have lived in the west since I was 8, so I am really nervous.  BUT, I also feel an insane amount of peace.  I know this is what we are supposed to do.  I don't know why we are going or why that is where we are supposed to be, and maybe we won't be there forever, but for right now, this is right.  As our realtor in Tennessee said, "God has a plan for your family and it's going to work out."  I know that's true because I have never had everything fall into place like this. We are excited and hopeful to see what this new chapter will bring.