here we go again

Eleven months ago: Nathan had been in Illinois for about two months. I was still in Fort Wayne, working and waiting for our house to sell. Nathan came home for a weekend visit. We went out to dinner, and he informed me that things weren't going well. I had just started to suspect he wasn't happy with our new place in life, and this confirmed it. 

We stopped house hunting and focused on apartments and storage facilities. Nathan wanted to stay with his job for at least a year. After that, he only knew that he wanted to leave this corner of northern Illinois. When Andrew and I moved out here, it didn't take long for me to agree. It's a nice area, but we can't easily afford to live in it.

I had no idea how long we would be in Illinois. Nathan started job searching before the one year mark. He had several offers, but nothing quite fit. The job search that landed us in Illinois was a bit rushed, as his old company was bought out and layoffs were imminent. We wanted to carefully and prayerfully consider options this time. 

The options have been considered. A very good opportunity has come from Tennessee, so we are moving. Again. God knows I never dreamed of living in three states in three years. In fact, it's still something I don't want...I very selfishly want us all to just go back home. I hope that changes, even when I am admittedly bad at changing. This experience has, if nothing else, taught me that I simply can't control where I live.

I will not miss the area very much, but I will miss the people. We've met some pretty amazing people, which I did not think would happen in the space of one year. It will be hard to leave them behind and start over, yet again, making friends. I hope the people we meet in Tennessee are as great as they are here.