We're On the Move!

It is official, we are moving to Iowa. I have accepted a job with a health system in Des Moines and we will be moving in early September. It is hard to believe, frankly. Chicago has been my home for the past 15 years and has been Joe and the kids' home always, so this is a big change for us. I think it is only beginning to sink in how significant this change is for the kids. It would be one thing if we were only moving to a new house, but we are also leaving their school, their friends, their beloved nanny, Linda, and their Chicago grandparents whom they are so close to, so this is especially difficult for the kids as well as for me. But the primary motivator to make the change is that I want more time with the kids, and I just wasn't able to find a job in Chicago that was less than 24/7. I had also gotten tired of commuting 1.5 hours a day on a good day, which added up to an extra seven hours a week that I could be with the kids. And we are looking forward to spending more time with my family, who has missed the opportunity so far to have the kids local. So here's to big changes and new beginnings, made bittersweet with some deep sadness that we can't pick up our house, Grandma Francie and Papa (or Papi, as David has started to affectionately call him lately) and our Miss Linda and take them all with us.