Empty House

Just me and the cats tonight.

Shane and Carrie are at Grandma and Grandpa's. Shane will stay and play with them while Carrie drives into what looks more and more like our future town. She has an interview, appointments around town to look at rentals, day-cares to visit, and a job offer to respond to. The job offer wants her to start on the 19th. Carrie asked if she could start on the 26th instead, but they have not replied yet.

While they're out of town, my job is to try and pick up whatever I can. We have a real estate agent coming over on Wednesday to look at the house, and Carrie scheduled Nelson to visit afterward.

Things were moving slow and now they're moving fast.

Originally, I had hoped Carrie would get job offers further out; March or April, perhaps. When she started getting interviews for Charlottesville, I asked if she could try to not start until February. Wrestling season and half the school year would be finished. I have to keep revising my timetables!

If Carrie accepts the job, she will go down south to start while Shane and I stay up here. Shane will re-enroll in the day-care up the street. I will go to work as normal, but get to experience life as a single parent. It should be eye-opening.

Meanwhile, Carrie will learn her new job, settle, and get ready to transfer Shane to a day-care in Charlottesville. Child care prices are much cheaper down there. Then Carrie will get to experience life as a single parent! There's no rush yet. The transition will be stressful enough without throwing Shane into the mix. We know and like the day-care here, and my parents are still in the area. Plus, Carrie has a good friend, Katie, (one of her old YCC co-workers) who lives in Charlottesville. They can catch up while she has her freedom.

The next five and a half months are going to be interesting. I don't look forward to splitting the family, but you do what you have to do. Military families have it way worse. They move all the time, split up, and their loved ones could be in a combat zone half a world away. Carrie, Shane and I will all be within a couple of hours of each other.

That's the news for now.