Ohio Livin’

We are moving back.

And I know a lot of my long time blog lurkers/followers are gonna say “huh? why??” North Carolina seems like the perfect place for you.

And it is. I love it here. Love.

But I don’t love my life here right now.

And even though things were not perfect, we were not looking to move back. In fact it had not even crossed our minds.

But then a job came up out of the blue and we just decided (spur of the moment really) to see where it went.

We were 100% trying to make our new life here work.

But when things moved along with this new opportunity we realized that it’s been a year here. And when we sat down and were totally honest with ourselves it was hard to imagine staying put.

It’s not just the boys. Austin (who we thought would be the hardest with moving) loves it here. Wants to go to college here, has made great friends here. But he also wants his old life back, Worthington is the best place to be a kid. There is nothing better than small town living. Blake’s bags are packed. He is Ohio through and through. Cole is back and forth. But he’s our social butterfly. And easy.

It’s not the weather. Ok, I just had to throw that in. Weather in Chapel Hill rocks. I LOVE the weather here. Well I take that back. I don’t love summer. I love summer in Ohio. I like to have dinner outside every night during the summer. I don’t like ginormous spiders and copperhead snakes in the grass. Summer evening in NC are not that fun. It’s hot, it’s humid, and mosquitoes bite like crazy.

So, what is it?

1. The schools. This is just an issue I can’t fix. I miss our neighborhood schools. I think they provide such a unique way to grow up. Nothing compares. It just doesn’t.

2. The Farm. We miss the farm. We miss going to the farm but we also miss living close to my parents so I can tag along with Andy on business trips and know our kids are well cared for. Plus knowing if we need back-up they are there. And we are there for them. They want to retire there on the farm, and we want to make sure that happens.

3. My business. We had an amazing holiday season and year and honestly I don’t know what I would have done if it weren’t for Aimee. She held it together. I fully expected her to quit after Christmas. Running my biz out of two states is not working. And I want to keep my business. I so miss my creative outlet and being much more involved.

4. Our village. I think if we had not lived in Worthington we wouldn’t miss it so much. It’s not perfect. But the things that worked for us, worked really well. And honestly I have never lived anywhere that had so many people that had grown up there, and then moved back to raise their own kids. I think that says something.

5. When Andy and I had kids I made him promise we would settle when the kids started school. When he finished his MBA most of his graduating class were fast tracking to careers that involved lots of consulting, lots of travel. We agreed that was not for us. Regardless of that big paycheck that offered. I grew up a military brat and moved a lot. I wanted my kids to graduate from high school with the kids they went to kindergarten with. I LOVED the idea of that. SO many jobs came around that we ignored over the years because we wanted to stay put. There was really only a few places we were willing to consider. And when Chapel Hill came up it was just too hard not to give it a go. And honestly my heart is still here, partially. But a bigger chunk of my heart is in Ohio. A place that wasn’t where I was from, it wasn’t where Andy was from… but it’s where we are from together. It’s where are kids are from. And that’s huge.

And so that is where we are at. With the opportunity to give our kids back the life they had, the life they loved, and for Andy to keep moving forward with his career, and for me to keep my business running. To say that it is bittersweet is an understatement. But I can’t deny that I miss my friends fiercely. And life is just too short.

I have nothing but great things to say about Chapel Hill, about North Carolina, and the people I have met here (besides the one in the previous post). I will miss it big time. And my dream is for at least some of my kids to go to college here and our North Carolina connection will continue.