Wagons Westward- Again

Last Tuesday I attended a PTA meeting where I happily volunteered to help coordinate volunteers for the Fall Fling and considered serving as the Kindergarten PTA rep. After the meeting several of us went out for drinks and I happily told my table-mates how much we loved Superior.

“There’s no way I would consider moving from here,” I said.

Oops

Wednesday night Mark went out to dinner with his boss Lance and company executives from headquarters in California. He came home and said “They want to move us all to California- now.” We knew this was a possibility ever since the company split. We were hoping that Mark and Lance could convince the big boss that it made more sense to keep them in Colorado- where everything is cheaper.

Unfortunately, the company number crunchers believe it would be cheaper in the long run to move everyone to San Mateo, California. I’m not sure how they are making that math work; maybe it’s special California math. I know the math certainly doesn’t work for us. Housing is ridiculously expensive out there. We’ll probably lose some of the money we put in this house, since we’ve only been here a year. The cost of living in California, (gas, groceries, healthcare, taxes) is much higher.

We LOVE Colorado. We love the weather, even the snow in May. We love Superior Elementary. Ethan is happy and making so much progress this year. He loves his Cub Scout den and his soccer teammates. Ian is very excited about starting “Bubba’s school” in the fall. We love that the kids can walk to school and soccer practice and that we live on a quiet cul-de-sac. Ski resorts are an hour’s drive, gorgeous hikes are available right across the hill, Denver and Boulder offer wonderful culture opportunities we’ve barely had a chance to explore, and we were looking forward to traveling to Dinosaur National Monument and Yellowstone Park.

In the end, though, we have to go where the jobs are. This is a great opportunity for Mark to move, with his company paying for it, to an area where there are other game companies. He loves his career and he’s well established in his field. As hard as it will be for me to find a job in the ultra-liberal San Francisco area, I cannot ask Mark to give up the career he’s been working so hard on for the past 10 years.

Our boys don’t know about the move, yet. We’re planning on taking them to San Francisco this weekend on a family vacation and making a grand adventure of it. Then we will tell them about the move and hope that having an idea of the joys California will hold for them will somehow lessen the pain of another move.

We’ll be putting the house on the market in April. Mark will have to go out to California and work while we finish school here in Colorado. I’ve got to clean and pack, fix the little things around the house, gather up tax forms, school records and medical forms. I’ve got another 1,000 mile trip to plan (we’ll make an adventure of the final drive from Colorado to California just as we did the drive from Virginia to Colorado.)

I need to shepherd the always anxious Ethan through another emotional upheaval and make sure that Ian isn’t ignored in the process. I also have to be there for my friend Beth who is going through this move too, and is just as heartbroken as I am.

I probably will rant and cry and throw a few more temper tantrums about the great unfairness of life in general and moving specifically. I will probably lose my temper with the boys when they spill something on the carpet or empty the toy box ten minutes before a showing. I will, inevitably, lose my patience with movers, the human resources department, and school boards who do not meet my time schedules and deadlines.

But, I’ll also be with my husband who loves me and two boys who can find adventure in a simple sunset.

After all we’ve survived, I don’t think California will present any challenges we cannot overcome.