…what is that I asked?
As everyone turned their head at the table to look at the One Eyed Martian not from this neck of the woods. Just as I answered a 75 year old woman got a gleam in her just like she probably did upon seeing her first love or her first grandchild. With a new found spring, she leapt out of her chair and ran out of the room. Only to return to the table with 2 plates of home made cheese straws.
The One Eyed Martian was thanked for asking such a silly question and I had my first taste.
Well it has been a few hundred miles, a few longer months and a few less tears shed but I am in a new state with a new company and a new group of people.
I now have two residences again, this time the second one is out of state and no longer just down the road from where my family lives.
We have sold the house, moved up to the Northern part of the state to be closer to the In Laws, only to find out that my job in Oil and Gas was no longer needed, along with a few of my peers I was laid off.
A few more months of spiritual guidance, and white knuckled prayers for the summer, to be answered with a job, but this time in another state in the South. Not a state I would ever consider moving to, and pretty sure no one ever said “when I grow up I want to move to xxxx”.
But the answer to my prayer came to me, after simply saying. I am not going to fight it this time, I am not going to push, I am going to set down my bag of worry, and let you pick it up for me Teacher. I am going to believe with all my heart, and even when I don’t, I will let you know that I am human, but still praying to stay on that right path. Forgive me for being a man, but love me for trying and bless me for it.
So, the interviews came, the flight out to visit happened and then I was offered the job.
We have since made the traveling back and forth work, I have been lucky enough to be home every weekend, and my family is going to visit this down South state for Thanksgiving. To have my wife look at the homes and neighborhoods and to get a feel of what it is like here. The city we are coming from has mass suburban communities with lots of extras around it, and metropolitan living close by (art, opera, ballet etc). This place….well, not so much. The schools are not the best either, slim pickings there, and everyone with a family is trying to get into those neighborhoods. And there are not many homes built within the last 10 years, so many 20-30 year old homes. Hmm, Dean Martin comes to mind upon looking at the houses.
But, in spite of all the oddities here, the folks have been down right homey and friendly. With everyone asking about my family, and have I found a church yet and to make sure and catch a football game as soon as I can.
While my wife and I have even considered buying a home in our old state, we keep coming back to the same thought. Our daughters will be stronger if we are all together, family is the most important thing right now.
So it goes, all prayers are answered, some with a resounding Yes and others with a quiet no. Either way, I know that my presence in the world and my state of mind solely depends on me and my belief in all things good. I saw this past Sunday that Joel Osteen said, ‘it does not matter where you are in this world, you are always going to be you. No one can take that from you, regardless of where you are’.
Truer words were never spoken, but many still fail to hear it.
watkuweis ~~ 