There is so much that I need to document and I will get it all posted if it's the last thing I do! But right now I'm trying to process what has happened to us over the past six weeks. So here is a very simple timeline to illustrate what the past 11 months have looked like and why these last six weeks have been particularly trying...
Dec 30, 2011 - We lose GK...Aric's mom.
Jan 5 - Aric goes back to school part time through BYU-Idaho's Pathway program
Mar - We find out about PrepMD, a school in Boston that offers a program to get into the CRM (Cardio Rythym Management) Industry and research it.
April - Aric gets interviewed and accepted into the program. He gives his six weeks notice and leaves his job/career of 12 years. We are still in the middle of our master bathroom remodel! But barely finish it in time for Aric to enjoy it for a week. The house goes on the market. We found an apartment in Boston that was close to his school, in our budget and available the day we needed it! Total miracle.
May 5 - We move most of our belongings out of the house and into a storage unit. Me and the kids will be sleeping on the floor and living with the barest of essentials for the next six weeks...I mean months.
May 9 - I take Aric to Boston and get him settled into the big city then come home.
May 21 - Classes start for Aric. He has tests every week. If he gets below a B two times he gets kicked out of the program...no pressure.
June 9 - After six long and emotionally draining weeks I head out to Boston on the road trip of a lifetime. My car loaded with everything we could possible fit in it...including the children.
June 16 - We arrive in Boston so happy to be reunited with Aric again. Although we were happy to all be under the same roof, the 950 sqft that we were living in took some getting used to.
June /Aug - I filled our days with lots and lots of outings and swimming. Some days were very long and emotional. We were all grieving the loss of our old life and missing our Liberty Lake summer days. We were dealing with the stress of trying to sell the house by owner from Boston. We were adjusting to being unemployed and having no income. We were also being blessed to be spending lots of time with my Aunt Carolyn and Roscoe. We were also blessed to make some very special friendships. So even though things were hard, we still had a lot to be happy about.
Sept - Aric starts interviewing for a jobs. Girls start school...so traumatic for them and me! We start having issues with our tenants in our Arizona house. We accept an offer on our Liberty Lake house that breaks my heart.
Oct 4 - We close on the LL house. Still looking and praying like crazy for a job. Turn in our 30 day notice to our apt complex without having a clue as to where we will be moving to.
Oct 19 - We get a contract and find out we are moving to Utah! We have three weeks to find a place to live in Utah where we will be close to the SLC airport and close to Ogden. Not that easy...Oh and we start coordinating our stuff to be moved from Washington to Utah.
Oct 26 - It's a miracle! We find a place to rent...I ask a friend I haven't seen since high school that lives in the area to go and check it out to make sure it didn't stink and was in a nice neighborhood. She gave us two thumbs up so we took it.
Oct 29 - Find out our tenants in Arizona took off and trashed our house.
Nov 1 - We hire an property manager to take on the rental house, she says she has never seen a house that bad in all her years...stupid, STUPID dishonest people!
Nov 7 - We get a call from Aric's dad who has been traveling in Italy, telling us that his connecting flight got cancelled so he is coming to Boston...that night! He was able to arrange his flights so that he could be there for Aric's graduation.
Nov 9 - Girls last day of school. We pack up our U-Haul trailer. That night Aric graduates with an "A" average from his program and he speaks at his graduation. We have to say goodbye to our beloveds in Boston.
Nov 10 - Aric's dad flies home to Florida that morning and we frantically finish cleaning the apartment and load up the car for our road trip back West.
Nov 13 - After four days on the road (thanks Auntie Jo for the best sleep and best food on the trip) we land in Layton, Utah.
Nov 16 - Our truck with all of our stuff finally arrives...3 days late!
Nov 19 - Girls start school...Maya HATES it...she is still struggling making friends :(
Nov 21 - My brother Ben comes to visit bringing my van that I had to leave behind when we moved to Boston. Our good buddies the Halls come to stay with us through the holiday weekend.
Nov 22 - My two cousins, Monica and Leah come up with their friend Karina and they stay for the weekend as well.
Nov 24 - We celebrate C's birthday. My baby turned 4...be still my heart.
Nov 25 - We put the Christmas trees up...nope, not a typo, we have two trees. We wanted to do that tradition before Aric left.
Nov 27 - Aric leaves for Missouri for 3.5 weeks. Camden starts preschool.
Nov 29 - My parents come to visit.
Dec 2 - I get asked to serve in the Young Women's program at church working with the 16-18 year old girls.
Dec 4 - I'm at my whits end...or maybe my whits are gone all together, I can't really tell. But I got almost all of my Christmas cards addressed and sent. AND I cleared out enough of the garage to park both cars in it!
Besides having no time to sit and blog these past few weeks, I honestly haven't been able to emotionally process everything to even be in a good enough place to post anything! My heart is all over the place. I miss Liberty Lake. I miss Boston. I miss having my own house. I miss Aric. I miss having happy kids who had friends. I miss feeling like myself. I miss GK.
But...
I'm happy Aric has a job. I'm happy I have a place to live that is bigger than a closet. I'm happy that we live in a nice area with nice people. I'm happy that I live closer to my cousins and some of my dearest friends, I've got six buddies within an hour from me! I'm happy that I have a healthy family. I'm happy it's Christmastime. I'm happy that I get to serve in the YW program at church. I'm happy that no matter where I move to, I can go to church and have an instant support system.
Like I said, I'm a mess...bear with me.
