Yikes! It’s been quite the summer. If you haven’t talked to us recently, this post will get you caught up on some major changes. Here it goes…
We just spent the past three weekends travelling: a week and a half on the east coast and a weekend in Omaha (see previous posts). Not wanting to have a relaxing summer, Elise had (after applying) received two offers for job interviews in Minnesota; one in Prior Lake and the other in Rockford. As a result, her and the boys headed up Thursday night (after spending the past two days at a work conference). While the boys hung out with Mary, Elise interviewed and by the end of the day had not one, but two, job offers. So.. now what? I (Jon) hop in the truck and head up to Eden Prairie late Friday night.
Elise and I decided to spend Saturday checking out the two towns and deciding what would be the best fit for our family. Coming to a decision that night, we decide that Rockford would be the best fit for Elise’s job (middle school science at an Environmental Studies magnet school) and for the family (small town).
After having made this decision, I get a call from my parents… Glencoe received a major dousing Saturday night and their house was filled with three feet of water. So…
While Larry heads to Laura’s house (out of power for 3 days and some water in her basement) and Elise calls the schools to finalize the decision, I head out to Glencoe to aid in the disaster recovery. Needless to say, after three feet of water, it was a very emotionally and physically draining time. We pumped out the remaining water, saved what we could, and started to clean up the mess, mud, and ruined belongings. It was quite the experience of digging through your history and tossing a lot of it into the trash. I took Monday off of work to stay one more day before heading back to Iowa City with Elise and the boys.
To keep this giant narrative moving along, I came up the next weekend to help finalize the gutting of mom and dad’s house, who are now living temporarily with Grandma A until they can get a new house. The next weekend, Fred, Cathy, and Teresa came down for a four day weekend over the fourth of July. Why? To finish up the basement remodeling of my house in order to get it on the market! Meanwhile, Elise traveled to Minnesota with the boys for the annual Mouse party and to allow us more construction hours in the day.
So… It’s currently Sunday, July 14th. I have been in a different state 5 out of the past 6 weeks (not including this one). Elise starts a new position Aug 19th, at which point I will continue to work for UIowa, albeit remotely. We’ve started to look (tentatively) at houses in Delano, MN and have arrangements for daycare. Our house is going to be listed tomorrow (Monday). Fred and Cathy have an accepted offer on their new house, and Teresa just took possession of hers. And while I write this, I am at 35,000 feet over New York headed to Boston for a work conference.
Needless to say, it’s been one hell of a summer. Hopefully, my next post will be from Minnesota 🙂
Best wishes, – Jon