A stroll down memory lane

I'm cold! Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold! I hate being cold! It's too early for these kind of temperatures in my opinion. Last year I walked on the beach in NC in bare feet and short sleeves the day after Christmas. I had a rose blooming December 1st. This is just too early for winter! It all helps solidify my desire to move a little further south eventually, or closer to the warming effects of the ocean. I keep thinking I'd rather live in NC, but most of the places I could find work down there are inland and I want to be on the oceanfront. Specifically, OBX. Yes, you all know that it calls my soul.

Speaking of relocating to NC, when I was interviewing for jobs back on the east coast about two years ago (what? that long, really?) I had three interviews before I made a decision. While I had already decided the second I set foot in Illinois that I was working every day to get the hell out of there again, the urgency to move out east and away from all that was happening where I lived at the time was strong. Coupled with the ugly stuff surrounding the end of my marriage, it went from "I'd really rather be back on the east coast" to "I need to get the fuck out of here!" pretty rapidly.

I ended up interviewing in (1) Wilmington, NC, (2) middle of nowhere PA and (3) here in the 'burg (sidebar: I had a call right after I took the job here to interview out in Kentucky too, which I don't think I would have taken even though it was a director's position). PA was out almost immediately even though they would have paid better and I would have been in a director's position. But seriously, a few feet of snow in the winter? Subzero temperatures? Cheap but very rural housing? No thank you very much.

Wilmington presented a bigger challenge to say no to and to the day I made my decision it still weighed heavily on my mind. I interviewed there in January 2007 and the weather was warm, the flowers were blooming, the sandy dunes were beautiful, the ocean was 5 miles from where I was staying, the seafood was fresh and the people were nice. In 5 years or so I was looking at a director's position because they were hiring to eventually fill in that person's spot because she was going to retire. In the end, it was farther from OBX than here in Williamsburg (mapquested it at almost 5 hours! wtf?) and I needed to be closer to family.

Which kind of left me with Williamsburg by default, though I certainly wasn't upset about that. It's a crap research analyst position, so in a way I probably screwed my career advancement by a few years, but it's close to my family and friends, it's pretty warm and definately beautiful, it's close to the beaches and I grew up in Norfolk so there wasn't a lot of finding my way around to be done. I didn't think I was going to be able to take it because the initial salary range was so low, and when I told them the minimum it would take to get me here (which was really a pay cut in a way, thanks to a much higher cost of living and my separation leaving me single income) I thought there was no way it would happen. But this little institution came through and I made the decision that Virginia was the place for me, which I kind of knew from the start.

Fast forward to now. Here I am, a year and a half back here and happier if somewhat poorer. The family beachhouse is complete (aside from the neverending work Dad does to make it look fancy) and we spent many summer weekends there. Thanksgiving and Christmas will be spent walking on the beach, enjoying friends and family and gorging ourselves on delicious food and wine. My sister, who was living in Norfolk the last few years, somehow ended up here in Williamsburg too (weird!) and so she and I are able to see each other more often. I've reconnected with old friends who are important to me and made some great new ones. All in all, it's been the right decision aside from a few rough times and some difficult predicaments I shoulder most of the blame for.

Anyways, I had some snarkiness to share this morning (mostly about how not doing laundry means I am wearing the Most.Uncomfortable.Bra.On.Earth today) but I guess I'm feeling kind of nostalgic, a little more peaceful and maybe a little melancholy. Hence, a slow stroll down memory lane for me, for good, for worse, for sanity.