"We're Goin' to Jackson"

"Well now, we got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper Sprout,
We've been talkin' 'bout Jackson, ever since the fire went out.
I'm goin' to Jackson, and that's a fact.
Yeah, we're goin' to Jackson, ain't never comin' back."

 

Ok, so maybe those lyrics by Johnny Cash were actually talking about Jackson, Mississippi but I still thought it was a cute way to officially announce that in just a few short weeks, our family will be leaving Summerville, SC and moving to Jackson, Tennessee!

 

This has been in the works for a few weeks now, but until last Friday when it was official, I couldn't really say much.  Matthew found out about the opportunity to interview for this promotion within his company a week or two before Thanksgiving.  He came home and sat me down and presented me with the idea of interviewing for this position.  Naturally, my first question was "how far is Jackson from Tallahassee??"  Sadly, it's about 10 hours, vs. the 6 hours that we've been driving from Summerville to Tallahassee.  We talked about it for a few days and I finally gave him the go ahead to request an interview. 

 

We came home from Thanksgiving break late Sunday night (thanks to the horrible holiday traffic!) and Matthew flew out at 5:00 a.m. the very next morning (last Monday) to interview with the regional vice president of the company.  He was nervous, restless, anxious but mostly excited.  I don't think either one of us slept a wink the night before the interview. 

 

He got up around 3:00 Monday morning and put on his suit, grabbed his briefcase and found the goodie bag that I had made up for him the night before.  Just an encouraging note, a few snacks/candy for the plane ride and some breath mints.  =)  Ever the hygienist, I am.

 

He called me as soon as he landed and I wished him good luck once more and told him I'd be praying for him.  Praying for us. I asked him to call me as soon as the interview was over.  When the phone rang, I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was confident.  I'm not sure if that made me feel good or bad, as I still wasn't sure how I felt about the possibility of moving.  He told me that the interview went very well and that he should be hearing something a few days later.

 

By about Wednesday of last week we were getting little hints that he might have been the candidate that they chose for the job.  Matthew's boss was getting e-mails asking about his current salary and whether he was certified to drive a company car.  (One of the perks that comes along with this promotion!)  So we sort of knew it was coming but we still didn't know for SURE.  On Friday morning he called me from work and as soon as I said "hello" he said "Well, I was offered the job in Jackson today and I took it."  In an effort not to squelch his spirit, I told him how happy I was and that I was so very proud of him.  At this point he hadn't given me any details, but I could tell that he was beside himself with excitement so I asked him to tell me more.

 

As it turns out, they offered him MUCH more than we ever expected as far as salary goes which took both of us by surprise---In a good way, of course!  I have to admit, when he told me this a lot of my anxieties and reservations vanished.  Not that it's all about the money, but I'd be lying if I said that wasn't a deciding factor for us!  He also told me that he would be getting a company car and company cell phone as well as a company gas card.  Three more huge blessings!  Not only that, his company is going to pay all of the fees to move us including breaking our lease here in Summerville, hiring a packing/moving company to come into our home and pack all of our things for us, and they are also giving us up to 8 weeks of temporary living (aka a nice hotel) until we can find a home in Jackson.  WOW.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear all of this!  Oh, and then he threw in one last detail.....they want him to start January 7th!  WHAT?!  That's just a little over 4 weeks away!!

 

Since my parents were here, I went running into their bedroom like a kid on Christmas morning and woke both of them up to tell them the news.  Of course they were very excited and proud of Matthew but I think they were a little sad to realize that we were in fact moving even further away.  But they both agreed that this was an opportunity that we absolutely could NOT pass up and they support us 100% in our decision to move.  (As do Matthew's parents, by the way)

 

Immediately my head began spinning with questions.  I can't think of a worse time of year to try and move a family across the country than right here in the middle of the holidays!  As if this time of year isn't busy and stressful enough, now we're facing a major move in the middle of it all.  Knowing that movers were going to do all of the hard work for us made me feel a little better, but in a way it also made me feel even more overwhelmed.  My personality is so controlling that the thoughts of strangers coming into my home and handling my precious valuables and loading them "their way" onto a moving truck almost put my stomach in knots.  But, since then I've talked to several friends who have used movers before and they assured me that it's all very organized and things are done as carefully as possible.  They all told me what a blessing it is to be able to just sit back and watch as they do all of the work!  Ok, I'm trying really hard to see it that way......I truly am!  You can be sure that I'll be here to supervise the entire process, making sure that my most valuable possessions are wrapped EXTRA carefully!

 

My parents treated us to a celebratory dinner Friday night and we all sang Matthew's praises for working so hard to achieve this goal.  He has always wanted his own facility and now he's got it!  All those years of hard work have paid off and I'm very proud of him.  Jackson is a smaller facility, so it will be a great place for him to cut his teeth, so to speak, to someday prepare him to run a larger facility that might put us closer to home.  So in a way, it's just a stepping stone.  One that's necessary to get us to our ultimate goal of someday moving to Valdosta, Jacksonville, Ocala, Dothan, Albany, etc.  I'm looking at it in that light and resting in the knowledge that he knows what's best for our family.  He has prayerfully considered his options and he feels like this is the right move for us.  So, I will support him in that. 

 

It didn't really hit me until a few days later how sad I would be to leave Summerville.  We've been here for 4.5 years and it's only been recently that we've made some really great friends and gotten more involved in our church that we love so much.  A little over a year ago I joined a Moms group and I have met some wonderful friends who I will miss dearly.  When we got married and I moved from Tallahassee (the only home I'd ever known), I was sad but it was a different kind of sad.  I didn't mourn the loss of friendships in Tallahassee because I knew that I'd always have a tie there. My family will always be there so there was no doubt that I would return often.  With Summerville, there's really nothing tying us here that would ever cause us to come back.  It's weird to think that I will likely never see my friends face to face again once I leave in a few weeks.

 

Even sadder is the fact that this town is where Matthew and I truly started our lives as a married couple just a few short years ago.  It's where we learned to live together and how to function as a team.  It's where we spent our first Christmas, first anniversary, etc.  It's where we learned to be married and how to love each other.  It's where I learned what it means to be a wife and how to take care of a household.  It's where the little man at the Kangaroo station in our neighborhood has become more like a friend to me due to my frequent Coke Icee runs and the people at Atlanta Bread Company recognize us and know precisely what we're going to order each and every Sunday at lunch.  It's where Matthew began the tradition of taking Kyndall to Daddy/daughter breakfast every Saturday morning at Perkin's.  The waitresses there look for them and expect them each Saturday morning around 10:00.  It's where we called "home" for the past 4.5 years.  Most importantly, it's where we struggled to become pregnant and faced the trial of fertility issues together.  It's where, through a miracle of God, we found out we were expecting!  It's where I practically lived at the doctors' office throughout my pregnancy.  It's where Kyndall was born and it's the town listed on her tiny little birth certificate, just above her itty bitty black footprints.  This quiet, dark house that I'm sitting in right now is the only home she's ever known.  This home is where we learned to be a family.  This living room is where I spent countless nights rocking and feeding her, just the two of us.  It's where she learned to walk, talk and play.  This backyard is where she has spent hours upon hours picking flowers, playing in her pool and running in and out of her "ouse" (house).  Her sweet little bedroom is where I meticulously perfected the vision I had in my head for her nursery.  As I waddled around that room huge and pregnant painting those walls the perfect shade of green, I did so with love and excitement in my heart.  The wall near her highchair is marked with stains and spills of countless meal catastrophes from years past as she clumsily learned to feed herself.  Her sticky little hand prints and smudges from her perfect little nose adorn the glass of our front door where she anxiously awaits the return of her Daddy at the end of each day.  (Also the mailman, the trash man and anyone else, really!) There are so many memories in this town and in this home that we have called ours for the past several years.  I never thought I could be so sad to leave this little town but as we grow closer to our departure date, I am becoming more and more nostalgic with each passing day.  I want to drink in every detail of our town, our neighborhood, our favorite park, our favorite places to eat, our church, and this home in hopes of never forgetting any of it.  Forgetting it would be like erasing all of those wonderful memories that I just listed.  I can't forget it.  I won't forget it. I just wish Kyndall was old enough to do the same.  To etch these memories of her first home into her little mind, never to be erased.

 

One of the biggest things I've had to accept about this move is leaving behind my wonderful doctors whom I truly credit with not only saving my life, but also giving me a healthy, beautiful baby girl.  Yes, I know that God had a big part in all of that, but I truly believe that He placed me here for such a time a this so that I could receive the best medical care possible during this period of my life.  I cannot say enough good things about my doctors at the Medical University of South Carolina.  They have become like family to me.  They as well as their staff know me by name, know Kyndall by name and have even been known to call me on the weekends just to "check in".  They tell me that they're praying for me and I even had one say a prayer over me just prior to my first liver surgery when I was 12 weeks pregnant with Kyndall.  Tell me that's not a God thing!!  I'm pretty devastated to be leaving them behind and I'm very nervous about finding good medical care once we arrive in Jackson.  When your issues are as extensive as mine, not just any doctor will do.  I need the best of the best and I feel like that's what I have here.  I'll see both my liver doctor as well as my GI doctor each once more before I leave.  I know it probably sounds crazy to the average, healthy person, but I'm already preparing myself for an emotional day.  These men and women have been my lifeline, literally.  They're more than doctors and nurses and office staff to me.  They're friends, even family if I may say so.

 

I know it probably doesn't seem like it, but I really am excited about this move.  I'm just being real here.  I think anyone would be lying if they said leaving behind friends and a town that you've grown to love wouldn't be hard.  That's not to say that I'm not excited, proud, even thrilled!  I have a wide range of emotions and I think that's pretty normal. 

 

On a happier note, I'm very excited about the idea of decorating a pretty new house!  Matthew is going to Jackson next week to meet his new staff and while he's there he's going to look at a few houses that we've found online.  If they look as good in person as they do online, he should be leaving there on Wednesday with a place to call home!  I'm really hoping we can find something and nail it down before the moving process ever starts, as to completely avoid the need for the "temporary housing" (hotel).  We did the hotel thing for two weeks when we moved to Summerville and it was alright, but that was pre baby and pre two small dogs!!  The thoughts of living in a hotel room for even ONE week sends me into a panic so I'm crossing my fingers and saying extra prayers that we can find a place to live in the next few weeks before we ever leave Summerville.  The house that we're looking at right now looks so wonderful!  It's twice the size of the house we're currently in, with 4 bedrooms and plenty of space for ALL of the family to come up and visit us at the same time!  (hint, hint!!)  I'm sure there will have to be a lot more of that happening since my trips to Tallahassee will likely decrease somewhat.  Thankfully, you can get fairly reasonable flights out of Nashville so when I do go home, that's always an option.

 

So to make a short story long, that's our news!  =)  Please keep us in your prayers as we make this transition.  Pray specifically that my nerves will stay under control and that I won't be pulling my hair out by the time it's all over.  I'm really hoping for things to just fall into place and the changes to be smooth and easy.  My personality just doesn't allow for it any other way!  Also, pray for Matthew that he will go into this new role as a service center manager with confidence but also a good dose of humility.

 

If anyone has any connections in Jackson, please share!  I'm shocked at the number of people who have "friends of friends" who live in Jackson or old friends who live nearby that I had forgotten about!  It's very comforting having that type of reassurance!

 

We have just a little over two weeks left here in Summerville before we head home to our families for Christmas.  When we return on January 1st, we will have just five short days to get our house packed, cleaned and say our final goodbyes!  I plan to soak up every detail of this place and these people between now and then!!

 

I would apologize for rambling on in this post, but in this case I'm not going to.  Because the purpose of this blog is to document every aspect of our family's lives---from the good to the bad and all that lies between.  I want to remember how I felt during all of this--my fears, my expectations, my excitement---and writing it down to be kept for years to come is the best way I know how to do that. 

 

 So, we're off to Jackson!