Time to say good-bye

I know I've mentioned moving on this blog, but I should probably give more of a story. At least, I know that I like to read blogs where context is provided and I hate when they refer to something but never explain it - or worse, when they only hint at it but never explain.

We are moving out of Texas. Yeehaw! As most of you know, we moved here about three years ago riding high on the anger of a Los Angeles traffic ticket and with a lot of chutzpah and bravery. We hardly knew anyone in the city, but thought that with Ryan's schooling and resume, it wouldn't be difficult to find a job. Now, three years later with not much success, we are finally leaving.

In all honesty, Ryan and I both did not want to make the move down here, but things got rolling and in the end we felt a little trapped. In life, we are told to study it out and pray for inspiration, but when you don't have it you should just make a decision. Well, we did make a decision and then we stuck to the plan! As we were packing up our L.A. apartment, we just did not want to come, but I think we attributed a lot of it to nerves and we also felt stuck because he had just taken and passed the Texas bar exam. Most of our time here, we have not felt like it was the place for us. Within a few weeks we knew we wanted to leave, but taking another bar exam is a lot of work and money and we thought we needed to give Houston the ole' college try. This experience has taught us a lot about listening to the Spirit. I like to think if we did it again, that we would say, "Wait, let's slow down. Let's stay in California a few more months and take another bar exam." But, who knows. We acted the best we could on the knowledge that we had. We took a risk and it was very brave. You have to give us props for that.

When we had been here two years, we faced the decision to extend our apartment lease or possibly move out of state. We just did not feel right about either option, and then the chance to rent our current house came up. We moved and felt at peace for almost the first time of being out here. I thought we would be here for a while. However, when June was born, Ryan's sister came out to visit us. She lives in Nevada and has really wanted us out there for a long time. Through her love, persuasion, and extreme generosity, she arranged for Ryan to take the Nevada bar exam this past July.

Meanwhile, Ryan has had steady work most of our time here. It's been mindless, benefits-less work, but it has provided for us and we've been blessed. As major lawsuits have gotten settled, the work really started to dry up. As in, no work at all for a few months. Happily, most of this time coincided with the time he needed to study for the bar exam. In a way, it feels like everything is coming to a head. He has taken the bar in another state and the work that has kept us afloat here is on its way out; so we have no reason to stay here and every reason to leave. In fact, we plan on leaving the first week of October. Even if he doesn't pass the bar exam, we recognize that this is not where we want to be. Also, without work, we really can't afford to keep staying here anyway. One job has come up that he is working on right now, it should only last about another week, but it has given us a chance to tie up loose ends and to save a little more money for our trek.

That's our moving story. We will have a few regrets - leaving the Thalmans and my harp students - but that is about it. We've put down a few roots, but really, this place has not agreed with us. We are SO excited to live near Rebecca and Brandon and be so much closer to family.

I just want to share one anecdote that represents our time in Texas. While I was in the YW, I helped plan and organize a Cardboard Regatta. My branch in Bloomington, Indiana does it every year and it is hilarious and fun. It's a boat race where the boats are made entirely out of cardboard and duct tape, and you have to ride in the boat. Ryan made a nice powerpoint presentation showing photos of past races so that we could introduce the concept to the youth. The first year was so fun that they wanted to make it an annual tradition. The second year, they invited another ward to participate and while it was fun, I noticed that our ward's boats took a serious downward turn. A few weeks ago, Ryan and I went to the third annual regatta. It was just our ward youth again and it was dismal! None of the Young Women even made boats! Instead, they basically took single sheets of cardboard and covered them in duct tape. It looked like they were trying to make a boogie board (but smaller) or a float like the beach life guards use. Obviously, these things did not float at all. When they started to sink, the YW just picked them up and tried to run the course since the water was fairly shallow. They completely missed the point of the race - which was not to win by running on foot, but to build a great boat that may or may not disintegrate before it reaches the end. It felt like I had given them a really great idea and fun activity and with each year instead of getting more creative, they came closer to average. Their boats were worse each year instead of better. It just so encapsulated what bothers me here sometimes. They just didn't get it. Anyone reading this from that awesome Bloomington Branch knows what I'm talking about.

Here is a slide from the powerpoint presentation that Ryan made. The photo is from one of the Bloomington races. I believe the capsizing boat in front was entitled "Ragnarok."