The Big Reveal

So I think that I might have built The News up a little too much.

I think this because I'm realizing that the vast majority of you already know what The News is, either because we've had a direct conversation about it or because you're facebook friends with Pete.

So now, when I post it on my blog with a dramatic ta-daaa and jazz hands, you are going to be seriously disappointed. I apologize for this. But in my defense, I think you'll agree that it is all social networking's fault. Facebook + secrets/surprises = no bueno.

Anyway, without further ado:

Peter got a job as an associate pastor in Illinois!
My last day as a librarian was Wednesday!
In less than a month we will say goodbye to Southern California (our home for the last 8 years!) and move our daughter, two cats, and all our worldly possessions to we-don't-know-exactly-where-just-yet!

Ta-DAAAA!!! [insert jazz hands, fireworks, something surprising here]

Well, I feel better at least.

Here's the back story:

We never intended to settle in SoCal. In fact, I think we both assumed that we'd move back to the Midwest as soon as Peter graduated from seminary. That was five years ago. We talked about it many times and even came very close to just picking up and moving a couple of times. But "things" just never seemed quite right. There was always something left to finish here, for one or both of us.

Until last fall. Then, all of a sudden, we both just felt like it was time to go. Nothing really happened that made us feel that way, at least not for me. We just suddenly felt confident that this chapter of our life was finished. So we decided to move as soon as Pete's school year was over. And in January, when the Intent to Return forms were circulated among the faculty at Pete's school, he officially informed his supervisor and co-workers that he wouldn't be back.

At the time, neither of us had jobs lined up or even any sort of certainty about where in the Midwest we should move to. But then, with little to no effort, things began clicking into place. The next thing we knew, Pete had interviews scheduled with a church just across the Mississippi from St. Louis (where my brothers live). And again, early on we felt a confidence that this was the right choice for us and the right place for us. (Perhaps a little too early on, since the length of time between our readiness and the official job offer started to feel like an eternity by the end - thus inspiring my waiting-is-for-the-birds post.)

And now the waiting is over, the plans are made, and we are just tidying up the details (the seemingly endless details) required to move halfway across the country and start a new life.

Eden and I will fly out of LAX on June 28th. Pete will follow on the 30th in the moving truck.

We won't be here to see the Fourth of July fireworks at the Rose Bowl, or celebrate Eden's second birthday with all of her dear friends, or welcome the new school year. We won't get to laugh at the crazies lining Colorado Boulevard on New Year's Eve or watch the flyover before the kick-off at the Rose Bowl Game on New Year's Day. I won't ever help another patron find a book in the beautiful maze that is the Pasadena Central Library.

I'm sad.

But also, crazy, crazy happy. And excited. Because I'm hopefully going to see Fourth of July fireworks with my family. And we're going to celebrate Eden's second birthday with her grandma and grandpa and aunts and uncles and cousin and new friends in a new town where the grass grows green without the help of water piped in from other states and where lightning bugs and stars illuminate the evening instead of helicopter search lights and miles and miles and miles of city.

Once again I am reminded. It's a mudluscious and puddlewonderful world we live in, friends.

Here's to new adventures!