A Change Of Plans

They say that if you want to make God laugh, you should tell him about your plans.  Well, I am sure that God's been doing a lot of laughing at us lately!

Ben and I decided back in April that we were going to wave goodbye to life in California and head to Salt Lake City to establish ourselves for the next phase of our lives. 

In the months since, I've been dealing with many different emotions.  Fear of moving to a new place, sadness to be leaving life in California, guilt over not heading to Ohio (and also about not being more excited about Salt Lake City)...you get the idea - I was struggling.

I told myself that any major life change brings certain doubts, and tried to explain away the pit in my stomach that I'd get every time we talked about our move to Utah.  While there were things about the move that I was looking forward to - being close to family, the beautiful scenery, a new chapter in our lives - something just didn't feel right.

I'm a big believer in signs - I think that they're all around us, and if we pay attention, our path reveals itself.  It might not always lead where you think it will (or should), but there's always a reason for it.  Sometimes you get a subtle sign, while others they practically beat you over the head.  For me, there wasn't one big glaring issue - rather, there were a dozen little things that added up to a general feeling of restlessness with our decision to be in Salt Lake.

Well, apparently I wasn't alone.  Ben revealed to me, only yesterday, that he has been wrestling with the same feelings. 

After several hours of discussion (good thing we had a long flight from Cleveland to Houston), we realized that we'd both been feeling as though Ohio was the place for us.  Yes, there were things we were excited about in Salt Lake, but somehow we just couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't where we're supposed to be right now.

All things being equal, there is always something to tip the scales on way or another.  When we factored in my dad's progressing Alzheimer's and really thought about the logistics of getting to spend any quality amount of time with my parents over the coming months while in SLC, the scales tipped and we knew that Ohio is where we should be.

So, the decision has officially been made - we are headed for Ohio in August!

Now, while we both feel relief, we must take on the challenges of moving cross-country, and in only 6 weeks!

While our path might eventually take us to Salt Lake City (that will remain to be seen), for now, we're taking a detour through Ohio.