Where to Call Home?

This is us...we are gypsies. (Van Gogh "Encampment of Gypsies with Caravan")

By Amy

Right now my husband, baby, and I are camping out in my Aunt and Uncle's basement.  We are vagabonds and gypsies, living the wanderer's life.

Ok, that might be glamorizing/exaggerating it a bit.

We will be here for a month and half while my husband does a clinical at a nearby hospital's physical therapy office. (He's half-way through a physical therapy program.)

I already miss our friends and neighbors and the people we know at church. (Especially the ladies I exercise with in the mornings!)  And, of course I miss being in my own cool little home with all my stuff.

BUT, all in all, it's gonna awesome.  My Aunt and Uncle are way cool, and they've helped us be totally comfortable.  We get a bedroom and Hayden has his own room, so life is good!  (Oh, and my cousin wanted me to include: "Oh, and I have the best roommate ever!" Haha...she is pretty cool, though! )

Best of all...I live within an 45 minutes of my three sisters, as well as an hour from my little bro and his wife, and we're close to about a million cousins, aunts, and uncles!  Therefore, this will be a month-and-a-half long PARTAY!  WOO!!!  I am so pumped!

I most likely will never live this close to my sisters again, since they live in the busy Salt Lake and Provo Valleys, and my husband gets stressed out in traffic and busy-ness.  He prefers the country and small towns.  (This traffic brings out the road rage in him...ha!)  Therefore, I am LIVING IT UP for the next 6 weeks!  After that, my husband has another year of school and 4 months of clinical and we're done with school...FOREVER.  (That is, besides the credits I will take to keep up my teaching certificate.)  It will be freakin' weird to be done.  By that time, we'll be up to our ears in a stinkin' pile of student loan debt, hopefully we'll have another kiddio, and my husband will be a bona fide Physical Therapist.

Then, the Big Question: WHERE TO LIVE?  

People often ask us this: "Where do you guys want to end up?"  We have no clue.  Fortunately, there are jobs for Physical Therapists all over.  Unfortunately, that leaves WAYYY too many options for a person like me, who struggles with decisions.  (Like at Subway, I panic: "The classic turkey?!  Black Forest ham?  Delicious Sweet Onion Chicken?!  WAIT, Should I try something NEW!?" Then I am writhing on the floor and hyperventilating.)  So, I love and hate the fact that we could go anywhere.

I'd love to spend a few years adventuring before we have kids in school...like finding a job in Germany!  But it would be so hard for me to be far from family.  No mom or mom-in-law to come help when I have a baby, and no family for birthday parties, Christmas, baptisms, etc.  But, OH it would be amazing to explore and experience life in a different country!!!

Or, we could move to some isolated place in the US where my husband will be paid well, like Alaska or New Mexico (places where it's hard to get people to stay...usually because of harsh climates.) We could plow through our student loan debt, then come back to the west after 5 years or so, blissfully debt-free!  Or, we could just go to where we want to live from the get-go, and start our lives there, even if it means less pay and paying off loans for a couple years little longer. 

There's so many factors to consider.  Job availability, good schools, cost of living, the outdoor recreational stuff available, proximity to friends and fam...I've always wanted to be within 10 hours of both sets of parents if possible, cause that is a LONG car ride and it sucks to travel with any kids farther than that.  And I want my kids to know their grandparents.  I'd love to be within several hours of my siblings and their families, too!  I'm not a person who needs or even wants to be next-door neighbors with family, cause I think it's good to be independent and make lots of new friends, but weekend visits are so fun! :)  

Then there's always the question of weather...I HATE constant rain.  Rain makes me a lethargic, depressed, over-eating slug.  All I want to do is wallow in a mountain of fuzzy blankets, read ginormous books, and stuff as many warm, gooey carbs as I can.  And watch movies that make me cry.  It's bad.  My husband, on the other hand, grew up in Washington, and doesn't mind rain...but he hates snow.  I don't mind a couple months of snow, but I don't do well in extreme heat.  I lose the will to live.  I have zero energy.  It's not cool.  So, no extremes of hot or cold (Southern Arizona is out, as is North Dakota.)  We both like having seasons, though.  Oy, where to live?  

Despite the fact that I have no clue where we should settle, I have already spent hours on the floor plans of my dream home.  IT IS ROCKING.  (Yes, it includes a dance studio, art studio, amazing porch, huge windows, a hot tub, tons of art, bookcases galore, breakfast nook, etc...)

But, where to build it!? 

How about you, friends?  If you're settled, how did you decide where to live?  What factors were most important to you?  Did getting hired for a new job make your decision?   Did any of you end up somewhere you never expected to be?

For those like me, who aren't settled yet, do you already know where you want to live?  Would you ever live in the town you grew up in?  Do you want to live close to family?  OH, and any amazing recommendations of great places to live?

I'd love to hear your thoughts! :)

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