Moving, again.

The last bowl in the cabinet, the linens in the closet, the last box unpacked after a few weeks of hot weather and heavy lifting. We were finally settled. Enjoying our new spacious place and then….the sound of tires shrieking in a sharp turn. Let’s change directions! We are about to move again. Why?

The past few months charley and and I have been talking about where to be. He wants to learn and grow and be a part of a food community..but career wise he wanted to move outside something Corporate. He wanted to be back on a team again-  a small bond of cooks working towards something. He wanted to push himself to learn even more in the realm of pastry and desert which is why he felt a craving to be back in the fine dining setting. The pressure of dinner service and the push for an elite menu- pairing tastes for an experience. It ultimately drove him to apply to a new job when it poked up on craigslist even though it was in the dreaded town of Columbia.

You see, Columbia in terms of food…it’s struggling. Charleston has the visitors and the reputation, but Columbia has more family folks, southern and wanting their grits served up just like mama used to make them. Of course it’s got Saluda’s , Baan Sawan, and Motor Supply and a few other wonderful places but certainly not the vast selection of Charleston..hence why Charley was less than fond of the idea of returning.

So Charley got invited to interview. We drove in together, I thinking we were visiting our family. He went on the interview in secret not wanting to get my hopes up. For as much as I love Charleston, my friends and family are in Columbia and I’ve been wanting to move back for a long time. Turns out, they loved him, he loved them. It seemed like a great opportunity.

On the drive back we had to figure out if we were going to do this. The pro’s and cons were overwhelming. On one hand, we had a new space, we had just moved, it was going to be expensive, we both had jobs. On the other hand we’d be near our friends, pushing ourselves towards something new and potentially renting someplace with a yard ( Juneau’s request demand).

At one point charley looked over and said, “ decision aside, I really just want to be lazy.”

I nodded. I didn’t want to have to pack and unpack and move and sweat and find things again. I didn’t want to scour the internet for hours looking for the right place to live. I didn’t want to face the insecure feeling I get whenever I look at job boards and want ads.

Charley finished, “ I think that’s why ultimately I want to do this. I don’t want to be lazy. I want to push myself as a chef.”

So we decided a YES

and after making that decision we felt totally and wonderfully at peace about it. Right now I am beyond excited to see where the next year takes us. I can’t wait to invite my friends over or go have a coffee with mom and dad.

We hit a little despair as we faced all the different things we’d have to tackle. Our employers were sad to see us go. We had to work out arrangements with our current landlord. We had to tell Zachary (the roomate) that he’d have to move along his plans a little sooner. (We’ll miss playing x-box while you guzzle milk, bud. ) (We won’t miss your demonic cat).

  

 

Since then, things have really started to fall into place. As of today we’ve found a definite place to stay. I’ve been cuddling with Juneau and whispering in her ear “it has a yard, it has a yard!!”. I cannot tell you how excited I am about it or how much I think it is God, orchestrating things up there. I can’t tell you how many friends have said to me: I’ve been praying about this. And guess what, it’s happening. Boom, answered prayer right there.

On that one final puzzle piece to solve, I feel more at peace now that I will find something for my Job. Sometimes it feels so hard for the creative people to find jobs in the real world. We’re all airheads who want to dance in the wind and color on stuff right? well, actually if someone wanted to pay me to do that, I’d jolly well take it. Perhaps that’s what someone’s supposed to do when they have a degree in “general education”…which quite literally means I was educated generally and not at all in the sense of being qualified to teach (which so many have remained confused about). I would love a normal 9-5 job where I get paid a normal amount instead of all this scrounging and guessing. Perhaps I’m to outside the box to be a 9-5 kind of girl but we’ll see what the Lord brings. I’ll be especially happy if I can work on my art and photography in the meanwhile.

ps. I’ve enjoyed my drafting desk not having a computer on it so I can actually use it! I can’t wait to set up an art room when I get to Columbia.