My husband applied for several East Coast positions over the past 8 months before landing Manager of one of the Delaware college campus bookstores. Some people we told had no idea where it was, some others didn't even know what it was, but there we would be. He was officially offered he position two weeks after Thanksgiving. We left Arizona New Year's Eve.
We packed, listed the house, made minor repairs and loaded the truck all with the help and support of friends and family. The more difficult part was doing it all through christmas decorating, a violent stomach bug that hit the entire of extended family, a visit from my cousin-one of our closest friends-from Japan, and the birth of another cousin's baby, who spent a bit of time in intensive care. (Despite not being immediate family, my cousin took us into the NICU to meet him anyway, perfect, precious angel-baby laying there, sleeping peacefully).
A physical 4-5 day cross country haul with a toddler in tow borders on impossible, but if you have people on both ends, it's kind of a breeze. I flew with said toddler into Scranton, PA (THE airport where Kevin McAllister's mom meets the Polka Polka band on her way to Chicago... movie trivia moment for you). where my mom and her husband picked us up. My husband flew to Philly three days later where my mom and I picked him up and headed into Delaware to sign a lease on our apartment and pick up a rental car (they decided our Travelocity reservation looked funny, so they gave our car away, closed the shop and argued with my husband about how they didn't think we existed... whole 'nother tale). My father-in-law arrived the next week with moving truck and our trailered car. It all worked out perfectly.Here we are now, suddenly in Delaware, selling our house long distance - this needs a kick ass realtor --> enter Mike Silver <--, we're closing on it, if all goes smoothly, less than two months after listing it for full asking price.
What do you do in an unfamiliar place where you know no one, your toddler is bored, and it's too cold or wet outside? When the weather is nicer we'll have no end of free amusement, museums and landmarks in Philly, the shore line, huge parks, even Washington D.C. Oh, and fun fact, the Cape May Zoo is also free, you can bring food and it's just under two hours from here.
For now we've found a McDonalds with the biggest Play Place ever (and free wifi, of course), there's a toddler zone at our nearby mall, and Barnes and Noble with a big Thomas the Tank Engine wooden train set to play with and a giant Duplo table. We've even found a trade book and entertainment store that rivals our Mesa favorite Bookman's.
It's kept us occupied, as have the church huntings. We miss Mesa Baptist and all our friends. The toddler has sent out his very first Valentines to our friends there.
Planning Adam's 2nd Birthday party has also busied me-it's a few months off, but when the house sells and we jump into looking for a place, and possibly repairs on one, I'll no longer have any time. So plan the party I have been.
Most recently I've returned to my fanfiction, Star Trek Voyager, naturally. I have a friend or two who will be pleased. 2 naps worth of writing has produced 35 [ages of quality story. I'm pretty proud of it and have admittedly spent some post nap time on it as well. Oh, and the son of a gamer must at some point learn the craft. The PlayStation is hooked up and my 19 month old can work all the controls in small bursts of movement on Spyro: Year of the Dragon. I don't know if I'm sickened by it, or proud, haha
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