The Great Migration: Installment One

As I'm sure is expected, this whole moving-across-the-country thing is no piece of cake. I searched for jobs for over two months before I got a nibble from the school that ultimately hired me, and now we are on to housing and childcare. Typically, I am the panicker and Robin is more laid-back, preferring to let things organically unfold. Sometimes, I am proved to have the more appropriate reaction, other times, Robin wins out. When it comes to child care, I have been panicking. Because we don't have a house yet (more on that later), I had no idea how to even begin our child care search. Since we're going to be staying with my parents this summer, should I look in Forest Lake in case we need to live there when school starts? Should I look in Brooklyn Park, near my workplace? Until recently, we weren't sure if we were going to live in St. Paul or Minneapolis, so the parameters were huge. I was totally overwhelmed.

Note the past tense. After lots of discussions and research, Robin and I have settled on living in south Minneapolis. Not the best location in regards to my school, but when we combined all the pieces and compared neighborhoods that we were excited about, south Minneapolis seemed to be the one that fit best what we were looking for, so I got going on daycare searches.

I contacted a future coworker, and she hooked me up with some suggestions, and I also began a search through a source given to me by a college friend. Then, on a whim, I checked the school that my cousin sends her daughter, Ella. For some reason, I thought it was in a different location than it actually is, and lo and behold, it isn't too far from the neighborhood where we're looking. Within ten minutes, I called the school and left a message, and contacted my cousin, Melissa, who also put in a call for us. Long story short, we have a daycare, and we are super, super excited. We are excited about the center and their mission (more on that in a future post), excited about the location and that Robin and I will be able to share pick-up and drop-off responsibilities, excited that they have hours that will allow us to have Lydia at home two afternoons a week, one with Robin and one with my parents, excited that we have such strong recommendations from family members, excited that Lydia will be able to see Ella on a regular basis and form a relationship--all of that. I am elated, and a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. Yes! Also, let the record show that in this situation, Robin proved to be right. It took all of forty-eight hours to get in touch with the school, talk with them, and secure a spot. I know that several readers are rolling their eyes at our luck, but I wanted to put out there that sometimes, things DO work out.

On the home search front, we are not so sure of anything, but we have some idea of what we're going to do. Our house in Austin has yet to sell, so it's quite probable that we'll rent something in the neighborhood where we're hoping to buy once we get an offer on our Austin home, and I'm feeling more at peace and less anxious. I've even let myself start dreaming of the things that we will be able to do come late summer and fall. While the logistics of moving cross-country are nightmarish, they are necessary to get back to where we want to be, so that helps temper frustration.

And now, scroll up for a Lydia-centric cheery post about our summer days. :)