Back story?
My fiancé Dan and I first met at college in Boston our sophomore year of undergrad. We spent the next three years smiling at each other and bumping into each other on campus, always saying "yeah let's TOTALLY get coffee sometime!" and then proceeding to totally not ever do that. We would Facebook stalk each other occasionally after each bump-in, always to be disappointed that the other was off the market. We got together for a ranty post-college hang out on the water in Boston the August after we graduated to complain about how hard it sucked to be done with school and not have a job and have loans, all that, and proceeded to flirt for a couple of hours. He has the most beautiful eyes and smile and I'm pretty sure I just geeked out the whole time. We went on a first date, a second date, dated for a month - s'all good. Then I broke it off in October due to being hung up on a high school sweetheart that I just couldn't shake. Aren't I great? We lovingly refer to this period of time as Round One. Blah blah, drama drama, dates and flings with other people, me back with the ex, not with the ex. And then in April I came to my senses - ended it with the ex, went back out on a date with the guy of my dreams, and we've been together ever since. One apartment, one house, two cats, and a beautiful engagement ring later, and here we are. 6+ years. (Round Two/Round Forever.)
Oh, also, our last names contain Strong and Khoul. So there's actually a reason I spelled cool wrong. It's a play on words. Get it? Additionally, we call each other and our cats poops. It's a strange habit that we refuse to kick. These are important facts.
Just as things seemed to be clicking into place, we were like naaaah, let's quit our jobs and move across the country. In one truck. For ten days. With two indoor cats that hate each other. What could possibly go wrong? I'll bring the snacks!
So you ask - why the move? Well, first of all, we both have lived in surrounding cities/towns of Boston our entire lives and have never left. We figure as we venture into the next phase of our life together, this may be THE time to live somewhere else before we bring kiddos into the world.
Second - careers. Dan was a finance guy and was feeling pretty down and uninspired a few years back. He's always been a musician and had a big passion for immersing himself in music in every way possible, so he quit his job (with 100% of my blessing), worked for his family's business and applied for grad schools. He completed his masters in music business last summer. This move puts him where he needs to be to really see this through. He has an internship at a record label that he really respects, and on a recent trip out to LA to hopefully secure an apartment (we did - in Larchmont Village) and attend meetings to secure some part time work, he was able to grab coffee and lock it down. We literally could not have asked for a more hopeful and successful weekend out there.
Me - I've been a legal assistant at large law firms for the last 5+ years. I have supported some pretty incredible attorneys and met some really great people, and in the last few years I felt I hit my stride. I'm incredibly "OCD" about things, so a career in organizing things for other people has actually been really good for me. In the last couple of years, I have found myself wondering if I was meant to do this forever. I'm honestly still not sure. I do, however, think there are other possibilities out there. But more on that later.
So here we are - Tuesday, July 5th. Our last days at work are Friday. I sell my beloved VW GTI, and also our mover loads up a truck with our stuff, on Monday. The closing to sell our house is (hopefully still) on Wednesday. And we hit the road with Oo and Mu on Thursday. WOOF. (MEOW). We're taking the northern route and we're taking 10 days to get there:
Cleveland, OH
Chicago, IL
Omaha, NE
Denver, CO
Salt Lake City, UT (and a bit of Park City)
Tuba City, AZ (Grand Canyon)
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA - Home.
We are incredibly behind on packing, tired, drained, I keep crying at work every time I have to say bye to someone or feel overwhelmed with all I have left to do, and it's all really starting to hit us that we are doing this. Terrified, stressed.....but oh man, so excited.
When we were in LA for the weekend earlier in June, we were sitting at a bar and it occurred to me that this will be the first time in our lives together that we really can just BE together. We sat and reveled in that for a few minutes. Selfishly, I think we both run our lives around the people we love and the things we "should" do at this stage in our lives. Now, we are really, unapologetically, just going to be us and go after the life we want. I'm going to soak up every minute of exploring and finding our favorite bars and restaurants to share together, having temporary terrible jobs and hopefully long term amazing jobs, spending time with our small group of CA friends that we haven't gotten to see in recent years, and hopefully meeting some awesome new people. Also, I am SO happy and proud of Dan for doing this and I'm beyond psyched to watch him take the dream career leap, and hopefully I'll follow. I could not be more grateful or more aware of how lucky I am to have the opportunity and the partner to take this huge step. I think anyone who knows me knows that I do NOT take large risks like this, and I do LOVE a good comfort zone, so the fact that I'm doing this is crazy. And the craziest thing? I'm so calm. I mean I'm F*CKING freaking out about the logistics of getting things done and finishing up at work, because that's what I do, but the move itself? Freakishly calm. It feels so right. Weird.
Next stop (tomorrow), try not to cry at work, solidify the hotels for our trip, and pack up the kitchen. And then a million things after that. I'll be doing my best to blog my feelings (guys, I have SO many feelings - are you ready?) and our amazing stops - hopefully equipped with many pictures. Hope you'll join us for our adventure.
- A
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