It's been a summer of changes, that's for sure. I had an amazing job offer in Portland, Oregon (my home town) - really, it would not be an exaggeration for me to say it was my dream job. How many people can say that about a job offer at age 30?? I'm just saying...so going with that thought, as well as considering about a thousand other details, my dear husband and I decided it was time to pack up and go. Yes, we left our beloved DFW behind and shipped ourselves back to the Pacific Northwest. Hard to believe it's been 12 years since I left Portland for college and...here I am. Here I am. Just me.
Monkey Boy & Daddy are currently living up in Tacoma, Washington, where my dear husband got a job. Being an elementary school teacher and given the ridiculously bad job market in the Pacific Northwest (much worse that Texas, we're finding) it is truly a God-send and an answer to our prayers for him to have a position. There is much to be said for a paycheck and benefits, especially with a small Monkey around. It has definitely been a challenge to our marriage and our family life already in the three months we've been here, but we can do it. We are committed to doing it - I think that's what makes the difference. That and Skype, which Monkey has endearingly nicknamed "PING!", as in, "I'll PING! you tomorrow, Mommy!" My boys are currently living with my amazing Mother-in-Law, who is retired and cares for Monkey before and after school with lots of love, lots of homecooked meals, and lots of cousins coming over to play. Monkey has taken to his big extended family like a fish to water.
It's still pretty surreal to me, in every aspect of my life, actually. All the commuting back and forth to Tacoma (about a 2 hour drive) isn't helping much with getting myself mentally centered either, I think. Most mornings I wake up and I have no sense of where I am - Texas? Washington? Oregon? No clue. I've been having some issues with insomnia (it's HARD sleeping in a bed by yourself after years of co-sleeping!), so it's a good thing my Dad & Step-Mom have an awesome cappuccino machine. Oh, did I forget to mention that? Yup, I've moved in with my dad and step-mom. Luckily, they have a big house in the West Hills of Portland, so I have my own space and they have theirs. My room, which is seriously about half the size of our apartment in Dallas, has an attached full bathroom and is in the daylight basement of the house. A daylight basement, I've learned, occurs when a house is built into a hill, so one side of the room is window-less, facing into the hill, and the other is fully above ground. I have a huge window and a sliding glass door on the above ground side, the latter of which leads onto a deck with a hot tub and has steps leading down into the woods, where a creek runs about 200 yards away from the house. Yup. Tough gig, living here. Not too say there aren't challenges, though: I haven't lived with my Dad since my parents got divorced in 1986 - when I was 5 years old. I've never lived with my Step-Mom, but luckily she and I get along like peanut butter & jelly. I'm blessed, I know. How many adults get a second chance to get to know the parent who wasn't allowed in their childhood?
Why yes, I *am* that girl who will hold up traffic in order to take an awesome picture while commuting! My husband finds it hilarious when I refer to Mt. Hood as "my mountain" and burst out with Portland colloquiums such as, "Look! The mountain is out today!" 
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