Seattle Public Library

Some time last year, my husband and I discussed possibly moving to Seattle by November 2015. We talked about visiting in the spring to check out places to live.

So, we decided to spend our first wedding anniversary in the Emerald City.

Part of the plan was to drive there, to experience what it would be like for our future move. We packed our stuff and 2 furry babies into my husband’s car and off we went on our little 2-day excursion.

The first 30 minutes worried me. The cats were meowing up a storm. I was pondering how I would be sitting in the same position for 9 hours, strapped to my seat, and the cats’ leashes tethered to my seatbelt.

This was the first time we’d taken both cats with us on a vacation. Fortunately, though, the meowing stopped. The younger one snuggled with me, seemingly to seek protection from the new sights and sounds.

On the second day of the trip, it felt so refreshing to be out of California. The sight of the outline of George Washington on the state route signs made me happy. It was a strange thought to think that these would no longer be novel to me in the future.

Anyway, the trip was more of a mission than a vacation. Four of the five days were spent looking at apartments. Most of the apartments we looked at seemed so high tech compared to what I’m used to. It really made me feel excited.

Still, by day 3, I really felt worn out. All of the apartments became a blur to me, except for a couple. I was just so pleased with what I saw that I wanted to ask “Where do I sign?”

The problem was at the time, we didn’t really have a timeframe. We were just Californians seeing what the city had to offer. The nice thing was we came across a few people from California as well as other transplants from other states.

Despite having my head in the clouds, reality had set in too. Moving away would mean loss of a job, and the thought of finding a new job terrified me. The general consensus I received was not to worry about it, that things would work out.  So, for the duration of the trip, those thoughts were put on hold (at least for as best I could).

As we drove back home, dread set in. Going back to work was even more difficult. It was like I had homesickness for a place that I had never lived in. I think in my heart I knew the time had come. My time in California would be up soon.

And that time came sooner than I expected.

About a week after we had returned, my husband proclaimed that nothing was tying him down to California any longer

So, the decision was made. We were going to be moving at 6 months sooner than we had expected.

That was great. But how were we going to break the “good news” to our parents? Let the anxiety begin…