Dan texted me about an hour ago to tell me that he has been offered the position in Portland! I've been wanting this so so so badly, but now that it's here I'm a little freaked out!
When I moved to Utah in September of 2000, I never intended to stay. I was going to get married, graduate, and move out of Utah. In fact, when Dan and I got married, the plan was to move up to Washington somewhere, and he was going to be a high school band director. Both those plans went out the window in a short amount of time. But now we have an opportunity to move to Oregon! And I really, really, really want to go! But that fact makes me hesitant, because I can't quite explain why I want to go so badly. Is it just that I am attracted to the excitement of moving to a new place? That's not enough, that'll pass. Is it my bias for the beautiful Pacific Northwest? That still isn't a concrete reason, but might be reason enough.
I know that I want to go, but I don't want to base the decision on that. I'm trying to make an impartial list of the pros and cons, and here's what I have so far:
Reasons to Move
- Nice, temperate climate (rare snow!)
- Beautiful, green trees
- New experiences (different zoo, museums, etc, for the kids AND parents)
- Not live in a primarily LDS community (which I believe will make the kids have stronger testimonies, and give us many more missionary opportunities)
- We’d finally have to really sell the house rather than try half heartedly all the time
- Closer to my parents & extended family
- Less competition for growth in
Reasons to Stay
- Too much rainy weather might make me sad
- We’d have to leave our friends
- Possible we’d move, then not be able to sell
- Or we’d have to lower our price so much we wouldn’t have a down payment for our next house
- Dan’s parents are most likely moving here soon, so we’d be leaving them
- Dan is afraid he wouldn’t like the new job as much
- More positions for growth in
- Scary to be in a new place & not know anything (i.e. which neighborhoods to avoid, where the good/bad restaurants are)
- We’d have to find a new doctor & all that kind of stuff
Things I have questions about
- School system – which is better?
- House prices – I would guess
- Food, gas, etc – are they more up there?
So, any input? Tips? Advice? Help!
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6 comments:
yay! that's exciting he was offered the job. Personally, I think you moving would be so fun for me (after we move back), but I don't know about the real pros and cons. Tough decision! About the rain though...because it rains so much, the sunny days make you even more happy than usual! And you can get new doctors.
I miss you already, just thinking you might leave! We have thought for awhile now that we would move to Lehi when we outgrew our home, to be closer to you guys!
That's a hard one. :) Steve always wants to move somewhere else and I always want to stick around. He's even offered to move to Idaho and I'm still hesitant!! Crazy!!! Good luck. I guess all you can do is pray for the right answer!!
Schools are better and tougher in Oregon. Teachers are required to have higher education (I couldn't teach here but could in Utah - both because Utah's requires less for graduating with a teaching license and because Oregon requires a masters), classroom sizes are smaller, and (of course it does matter where you are, inner Portland schools are bad) test scores are high. Housing is more expensive. Again, depends on the area, but in some places it's a lot more. Living prices seemed comparable to me - some things higher, some lower. Any other questions? Good luck praying about it.
Wowzers!! We almost went to Portland when Alan was fresh out of school. He really liked it there. So has everyone I've known that's lived there. I can put you in touch with some friends in the area if you're interested.
Hi Rachael! I have found your blog! Hope you remember me! I used to be Nichole Ellerbeck. Anyway! I think this is such a HARD choice! I guess my question would be this: is your Hubby getting a raise? or is it just a move to a different place doing the same thing at the same pay? Just a random thought! I am excited to see what you decide. I agree that sometime being an adult is just not as fun- all that responsibility and MONEY stuff to worry about! Good luck~ Nichole
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