For the doubters. The naysayers. The confused. The
skeptical.
This is for you.
I’ve avoided telling people, or making a big “announcement”
because I don’t want to explain it. It doesn’t make sense to most people, and
frankly, kind of makes some of them mad. But it cant be avoided. I might as
well buck up and do it!
We’re moving. Again. For the umpteenth time in 7 years.
Unfortunately, we “settled down” and got married and had kids before we were
actually settled! We’ve never been the couple to do things in the right order
though and it’s been a crazy ride, so here we go again!
Since I was a little girl, and people asked me “What you
want to be when you grow up?” my answer has always been that I wanted to be a
veterinarian and I wanted to live in Montana. Well, the vet thing isn’t going
to happen. However…the beautiful state that has always called to me IS
happening. Lewistown, Montana to be exact. I’m going to plant myself right
smack dab in the middle of the state!
I’m not sure where it started, why I wanted so badly to live
in Montana. Maybe it started with one of my favorite books, read over and over,
that led me along a northbound trail with a cowboy philosopher, his stoic
friend, a herd of longhorns and a trail of broken hearts. If they went through
all that just to get to the wilds of Montana, it must be something special,
right?
Or maybe it is simply the fact that wide open, wild, clear
blue skies, pine trees and mountains sounds heavenly to me.
Somehow, in the divine plan, I ended up marrying a Montana
boy from the truly wild, extreme north western part of the state. Not an
imported one. I found one that has MT branded on his heart and soul. Which means I’ve had the perfect opportunity
to spend some time there. If I wasn’t already in love with the place, my first
trip there with him cinched the deal.
All of this is the reason that I’ve always said Montana is
the only place that will get me out of Idaho. Because I really DO love my
Idaho! Unfortunately, the economy doesn’t love us being in Idaho.
We’ve tried really REALLY hard to stay in Idaho. Remember
how we moved to North Dakota for work? Then decided we hated it there and came
back? The money wasn’t worth what we had to sacrifice there. So we tried to
make it work here. The problem is, the construction industry…well…for lack of a
better term….SUCKS! We either barely
scrape by on 7 months of work and 5 months of unemployment, or he works out of
town ALL the time. Neither of which are
fun options. The only other option is taking one of the state jobs here, which
would be great hours and great benefits…..and $12 bucks an hour. Seriously, WHO
can live on that? Not us! Not without me going back to work, but that’s one of
our main priorities that we are not willing to sacrifice on. I’m staying home
with the kids. But I also can’t expect him to be away from his kids all the
time anymore. It was different when they were babies and didn’t know better.
But now he’s missing school plays, wrestling matches, t-ball games and mutton
busting. Not to mention the birthdays and holidays. And this time he had to
leave his month old baby girl. Too much for a daddy to miss.
So when he was offered this job, we had a decision to make.
Do we keep fighting the economy and stick in out in Idaho and lose everything,
or pick up roots again and start a new beginning again?
There were a lot of factors in our decision, most of which
people are skeptical about because we’ve done it once before and changed our
minds. But the stability of the company, his position in the company, the
benefits, the location all made it a no-brainer for us. We had to do it.
There were a lot of factors that made it a tough decision
though. My best friends are here. Some of the best friends I've ever had. My kids’ friends that they’ve pretty much
grown up with are here. I’ve grown to love Downey and the amazing community it
is. My family is only an hour away. The church we love is here.
It’s not going to be any easier to leave this
time than it was last time.
The easy decisions were the fact that we aren’t moving to
Dickinson ND. We’re moving to Lewistown MT. Small farm community, not an oil
boom town. We wont be living in a subdivision. We’re 10 miles outside of town
and our backyard is a pine tree forest. We have family and good friends within
visiting distance. And “home” is 8 hours
away for me and only 4ish for him. Not 13 hours like ND was. And I’m sure
there’s a decent church around somewhere!
The other difference is my “feeling” about it. I never
wanted to move to North Dakota. I was 110% against it. I did it because my
husband was there and he wasn’t leaving. I never had the warm fuzzies about
that move. This time, everything just FEELS right. I know that sounds hokey and
doesn’t make much sense to most, but it means a lot to us to feel good about
the decisions we’re making.
And I’m EXCITED!!
