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Monday, May 21, 2007

Ten things I’ll miss about Oklahoma

10. Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts
9. Oklahoma City and Tulsa Museums
8. Press club in Tulsa
7. Out of the way wineries
6. Real estate prices
5. Great bbq – Earl’s, Urban Iron Starr, Van’s Pig Stand
4. Bricktown
3. Very little traffic congestion
2. OKC Gridiron

And, the thing I'll miss the most:

1. The people. I’m from Texas, and I’ll still say that bar none, Okies are the best. You can always count on someone coming to your aid if you break down, need a hand or need a friend.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Take a deep breath - don't panic

Boxes -- my house is over run with boxes right now. The reality of moving is settling in, and I occasionally have to stop -- take a deep breath and remind myself not to panic.

It seems like only yesterday, I was moving into this house, scraping layers of wallpaper off the walls and fighting the bugs that had moved in while it was empty. We turned it into our home, and now we're moving.

Do you ever wonder when you drive by a big old house, once beautiful and now dilapated and falling down about the family who built it, who lived in it and turned into their home?

I'll miss our house. But we'll make a new home in Florida, really. Oh now, here comes the panic again. Deep breath...deep breath...

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Messages to my friends

Because I'm too lazy to email everyone....

Gina -- Is there a date I should be saving?

Knittin Kitten -- Where are you, Chica? How are you?

Scott -- Add me to your friends list again, so I can read your blog please...

Diva -- I'll have to make a stop in Miami before I head to Florida.

Melessa -- Congrats, congrats, congrats.

The beach awaits...

A few weeks ago, we made a momentous decision – we’re moving to Florida. Everything from then on has been a whirlwind blur of more decisions and actions.

The thought of moving is terrifying. Oklahoma, this red dirt land, has a way of getting under your psyche. I even cried recently when I heard Vince Gill and Jimmy Webb’s song, Oklahoma Rising, on the radio – “I choke back the emotion, I’m Okie and I’m proud. And, if you call me Okie, you’d better say it loud…” I choked back my own tears. I love this state and its people, who have embraced me as one of their own.

Florida offers more opportunity, a better job with almost five times the pay for my husband. His final interview was this past week, and we’re expecting an offer this week. We took a leap of faith in deciding to move. But it’s worked out. The former owners of the house have wanted to move back to the old neighborhood to the house they grew up in, so that’s done. We’ll be bunking with my son and his wife for a couple of weeks, but have found a great beach cottage near them.

I’ve been a little more reluctant than my husband. We’ve lived here nearly five years – longer than we’ve lived anywhere in our whole 22 years of married life – with the exception of Okinawa, Japan. I feel like I’m leaving home.

We gathered our closest friends together for a “Happy Hour” this week, and amid margaritas and laughter, we told them we were moving. First came the tears, then came the pleas for invitations to our new home on the beach. We won’t lose our friends.

I finally acquiesced and sent out a resume packet on Monday. I had a phone interview with the company on Thursday evening after I got back from D.C. Wow. That was quick. Today, I took an editing and writing test. I’ll know tomorrow if they want me to fly out before June for an in-person interview. It’s a great job – challenging with room to move up and almost three times my salary in Oklahoma. And, for the record, the cost of living there is not much higher than Oklahoma City. I never have understood why Oklahoma wages run so far below the norm. That’s one reason so many professionals opt to move, but that’s another post. Things are working out.

I’m giving notice on my own job this week Then reality will really set in. I’m leaving Oklahoma. We’ll be back. In July, I have a wedding to attend. In February, we’re planning to take a week’s vacation and come back for Gridiron.

I’m moving.