Moving Sale

Well fuck it, I might as well tell you now. In our quest to figure out how to have kids, get out of this city and do what we want to do, we’ve been throwing around the idea of moving back closer to our family. Yes, the family that drives me nuts. But I’ll let you in on a secret: I love those nutty bastards dearly.

Hear me out. Part of our reasoning is that we can barely afford to live in this city now. theMan is having 0 luck finding a decent job that wouldn’t be soul crushing and we certainly can’t go down to a one-income house and have kids while living here like we want. So our options are: Chicago suburbs or what?

The idea of moving closer to family again came up because I liked being raised around all my grandparents. Plus, we will need the help, I’m sure of it. Being nearly poor and new parents, I’m going to want some help. I’m also excited to have my bio-dad in my life more now and if my kids can meet him too, great. Of course, having my Dad-Dad near my kids too so they can be read Calvin & Hobbes and soak up his sense of humor...even better. Not to mention my grandparents are all getting older and I feel a responsibility towards them in a way, given they helped raise me.

One branch of the Wife Liberation Front lives by there and I would be closer to the other branches. WOO HOO! No more air fare!

We could move to the suburbs of Chicago so I could still work at my awesome company, but it’s not that much cheaper and suburbs equals end of social life as I know it. My Chicago buds won’t drive to the suburbs and my family would be an extra hour away. I don’t even want to talk about the commute to the burbs. At least if we have kids by our huge crazy family, we’ll have them around.

So anyways, I’ve been putting my feelers out for jobs in that area to see if there are any bites. Turns out I have 2 sorta bites. One with an insurance company that I used to work for which I really loved and another just today that wants to interview me at a company one of my buds works for.

The problem: both of them don’t want to pay me nearly what I make here. The ceiling for jobs that I’m qualified for in that county is just not that high. Short of going back to school, I’m getting the impression that I’m stuck at this pay level. I may have to take a lesser paying job until I figure out the next step or work my way up in a company.

But those salaries will just slightly more cover our bills than now, pretty much the same level of broke as we’re facing here, give or take a few dollars.

Now I realize that Chicago has a different cost of living than said town(s) that we are considering. But my car payment and rent will probably be close to the same (I split rent 4 ways now with roommates). Plus, I’ll have to factor in gas and car maintenance because EVERYONE drives in these towns and I may have more of a commute. There isn’t public transportation like here. Ideally, I’ll live close enough to bike, but there will still be winter to deal with.

Plus, damn...kids are going to be expensive.

Since I’m going to be Major Lieutenant Breadwinner for our little family, I’m starting to silently freak out about reaching the ceiling of my chosen profession. I really didn’t want to go back to school so soon. I want to have some kids, damnit, and SOON. I want to be done with this career finding business for awhile.

I also don’t want theMan to have to work once we have kids. Hell, we couldn’t afford day care anyways.

So yea, I know I said I wasn’t going to be anxious about our future and it would all work out but I’m sorta wigging out here. Another hitch: If I do take either job, I could even be moving in the next month. AHHHHH!!! Major life upheaval decided in less than a month.

I suppose that’s how it went when we decided to move here though.

I just keep trying to focus on my awesome friends who are pulling strings for me majorly (I won’t publish the blushingly good things John E. had to say about me to his boss to get the interview) or the fact that I have a ton of people offering us a place to stay should we not be able to get a house right away. Or all my Chicago buds that I love like crazy and will miss like all hell.

I’m loved, that ain't bad. Now it's time for a Pros & Cons list that doesn't include money. That's just weird to me. Couldn't I just have to pick between an enormous salary and close Thai food? Geez...growing up is lame.