Making major life decisions via eeny meeny miney moe

Portland, OR? San Jose, CA? San Diego, CA? Denver, CO? and now Washington, D.C.? In any particular moment, any one of those places looks like a place we might end up. For someone that likes to have everything under control, this process of figuring out where we’re going to go next is killing me. It all depends on things completely out of my control. And even though, my first choice would probably be Portland, it’s not really up to me or my preferences at all. Where we will go next all depends on where Sam gets a job – and where the best places for what he wants to do will be. Thankfully, I think he’s figuring out a path for what he wants to do. It’s not exactly what he’s doing now, but it’s in the same general field, and I think with some studying, certification test taking, he can transfer his experience. But everything else is up for grabs at the moment. He’s determined to have us out of Utah this time next year – so that’s encouraging. But where we’ll be… I have no freaking clue.

Thinking outside the job-box

What would you do if money was no concern? I don’t mean take a permanent vacation on a deserted island. (Quite frankly, after awhile I’d get bored anyway) I mean, what job would you do if you didn’t have to worry about insurance, mortgage, family commitments?

I know exactly what I would do. I would do the same thing I’m doing now. And I only know this because after only a few months of what was to be the beginning of my “stay-at-home” mom life, I started messing around online again, playing with HTML/CSS, PHP, and WordPress. I started doing freelance work, then more, then more and more and more. It still can get very stressful and at sometimes downright annoying – but I know I love what I do, and I choose to do it because this is where my passion is.

Sam is a different case. He’s been driven more by the desire to “provide for his family” – and I’m not sure if he even knows where his passion is career-wise. He’s never had the luxury of taking a few months off to see what he would gravitate towards. I find this incredibly sad. Unfortunately, we still don’t have the luxury of allowing him to take that time off. Without his job, our income gets slashed by 3/4 and our insurance premiums more than double for as long as we can stay on COBRA (and then we have NO insurance. …Yes, I will need to find out what options there are for small businesses but from what I’ve heard they’re not great). It’s certainly not an environment conducive to creative personal introspection.

More than just finding another job – I’m hoping he can find something he can be passionate about. (I just hope he can do it quickly)