Cha-cha-cha-changes...

Well, I guess it is time for me to make a BIG announcement....
and before you guess, no, I am not pregnant.
But it is a big announcement, nonetheless.

Ready?
Mark and I are moving back to Louisville.
Yep, it's true.
And we are moving right away.
Well, right away, as soon as we can sell our home, that is.
Actually HE is moving back in two weeks.
I am moving, eventually.

Honestly, I have very mixed feelings about moving again so soon.
Happy to go and sad to leave. I am always thrilled by a new adventure, but I never really want to leave the adventure I'm in the middle of.
Yeah, you could say I'm complicated in that way.

So, here's the scoop:

The move is based purely on Mark's employment which was abruptly sent into a major tailspin three weeks ago when his employer announced that they would be pulling the plug on his entire sales division.
The entire divison.
Immediately.
As in, after this conference call, hang up and start canceling your schedules.
We will send someone to pick up the company car in a week or two.

This call left hundreds of people jobless.
So many people, we were surprised that it didn't even make a side note in the news.
No, Ford got all the headlines that week, instead.

This division-wide announcement sent people scrambling.
Very similar to an anthill that has just been been kicked to dust by a big stompy shoe.
When the shoe pulled away from the hill, there were all sorts of reactions.
Some workers panicked and completely freaked out,
some simply went on vacation,
one got a full facial cosmetic peel,
and some put on their game face and got back to work with opportunities that existed elsewhere.
Mark is that particular type of ant.

Before, I say much more, I must mention that I am super impressed with how the whole deal went down.
Quick and somewhat painless.
Like ripping off a band-aid.

There was psychological counseling offered,
resume writing counselors offering free services,
next-day-aired documents regarding well planned out severance packages,
and multiple conference call open forums headed by the super smooth VP herself.
She was cool as a cucumber, calm, knowledgeable, caring and professional.
As I listened in on this series of conference calls headed by the VP, I could not get over her skill of handling such a delicate situation.

I have never been let down so easily. Even by the most handsome quarterback on the football team, with tears in his eyes and a quivering lip saying, "it's not you....it's me..."
But actually, we all know it was a just a slutty brunette with a frizzy perm, too-tight jeans and very minimal adult supervision.

What was I talking about?
Oh yeah, anthills.

So, Mark heard the news of his termination on a Thursday at 4:30.
Then he took a deep breath.
Then he sat down at his desk and I brought him a sandwich and a diet coke.
By 9:00 that same evening, he had already sent out twenty resumes.
By the next day 40, the next week 75+.

Almost immediately the headhunters started calling with promises of success and dollar sign in their eyes.
So much to consider, so many restless nights, so many glowing orange hot-boxed cigarettes smoked convict-style by Mr.Farmer....and a little bit of yelling at each other, just because of the unexpected situation, primarily for good measure and stress relief aid.

I know it is probably very hard for you to think of me yelling. **wink**
Except when I type IN HUGE ASS HELVETICA, on occasion.

But yes, we yelled, we screened phone calls, we made Franklin T's, we researched real estate in Nashville, somewhere in West Virginia, and Louisville. They all were good possibilities.
We bought a condo (this was already in the works before we got the news) and a made on offer on a car.
Now we are already thinking of selling the condo and trying to get out of the car,
which still awaits my signature at the dealership....
The job he ended up taking comes with a company car.

In a sick way, though, I suspect that we both get a satisfying charge having our rather safe and routine lives thrown extremely off kilter.
I don't know what that says about us, but it probably isn't good.
We wig-out, make rash decisions, mentally live in multiple parallel universes trying on different employment scenarios, and are strangely, unusually, thrilled by it all.

Anywhooooo, it has only been 21 days and Mark secured a new job as of this Friday at 4:30, which was also his birthday.
At the end of his long, knuckle cracking, interviewing process, he ended up with two great offers to choose from.
He had a very hard time making a decision between the two.

He wrestled and smoked and paced and called former reps and called several friends in the business for advice.
After teetering on the brink of insanity for the better part of Friday, he made a final decision.
He took the second offer.

The job that was a little less glamorous, required much less travel, and included a very low key, fun loving, new manager.
The manager had a lot to do with the decision, actually.
Mark is very excited about working for such a nice guy and they hit if off right away.
I even found myself joking with said new boss in a brief one minute conversation.

Needless to say, I am super excited about Mark's very manageable territory that will have him home in our bed almost every night of the year. Not so long ago, he used to be out working his several states over 120 nights a year.
For the record, that is way too much freedom for me. I do not like to be left alone so often with nothing but my imagination, fading youth and wickedly wonderful single girlfriends. (You girls know I love you...)
Plus, I found out that I was very envious when I knew Mark was in a cozy, clean hotel room, watching HBO and ordering in pizza, with complete thermostatic domain, unlimited hot water and never faltering, beat-down pressure, while I was home alone, in our quiet, unfunny house, nuking a Lean Cuisine and scooping kitty litter.

I am full of sidetrack thoughts today, aren't I?
Back to the point.

Tomorrow is another step into our new adventure as we will be putting a "for sale" sign in the yard.
I must admit, I am unusually sad about selling this home.
It is, by far, the most beautiful and comfortable home we have ever lived in.
We have lived in 7 homes in 12 years of marriage, if you can believe how insane that is, so this being our favorite is really saying something.
I don't think we will ever beat it. It has a great vibe happening and our stuff looks perfect here. You know, we have only been here 10 months. I still haven't unpacked all of our boxes yet. Guess that's fortunate, in a unsettling sort of way. But yes, I am quite sad to leave.

On one hand, I'm glad to be returning to a city where we blend in easily, have lots of friends and art and music----and awesome grocery stores and restaurants.
But on the other hand, besides the house, I'm sad to abandon all our newly forming friendships, sad that I will miss out of the Lowertown phenomenon, sad to leave a less complicated life where we don't have to say NO to anything because we rarely get asked out to paint the town red. In the 'Ville, there is always someone tempting us with a bucket of red paint and we have a very hard time just saying NO.
We have promised each other that we will say NO, at least occasionally, when we return.
Someone please remind us of this in a few months.

More than anything, I realize I am grateful for the time we have spent in Paducah.

So many great things have happened since we moved here. My art is better than ever, I have conquered my fear of the kitchen and it's many shiny appliances, we have started exercising, we've spent quality time with Mark's family, and most of all we have had plenty of time to spend together, reminding us of how much we fun we have when we are alone, and how perfect we are for each other. Which is mainly because I laugh until my sides hurt at his loosely-disguised-as-his-life never ending stand-up comedy routine all day, every day, and he tells me I am cute all the time, even when it is clearly a fat little fib.
It works really well for us, anyway.

Yep, overall Paducah has rocked....
but now with a little hesitation and little celebration....
Time for side B.....