Traveling from Point A to Point B - Watch Out for Detours

This past week has been chaotic to say the least.  Anyone who has packed up the family and made a 14-hour trek with a two year-old, two dogs, and two cars filled to the brim is deserving of a medal.  My husband and I can share one...but we definitely deserve some accolades.

We drove back home to start planning our new life.  We got in on Sunday night, exhausted.  First thing Monday morning we had a meeting that can change the course of our lives forever.  After that meeting, we planned to look at houses, visit a bank, see our families, go on a date while Grandma and Grandpa watched the little one.

Needless to say Date Night on Monday didn't happen.  One of many plans that had to change during our 'mini-vacation'.  We found ourselves in 'expedite mode'.  Our number one priority was to find jobs.  But, until that happened, we had to find a house that was in a price range in which we could walk into a bank, ask for a loan and not have them laugh us out the door.

We searched and searched.  But, the houses in our price range were run down, former crack houses that belonged right next to the Ghetto Superstore we currently frequent.  My spirits began to fall while my anxiety level began to rise.

It's bad enough to be a grown adult with a child and have to depend on your in-laws for help.  Not only are they helping us while we get our feet on the ground, they agreed to co-sign a loan if need be.  But, they are also allowing the family to stay in their basement until we have a home.  While I love my in-laws, I would rather someone drill a 1/2" nail in the side of my head and pull it back out with no anesthesia.

My husband and I had a couple of great meetings with contacts to help us get our feet in the door at various businesses.  By Thursday night, I felt a bit better.  We bought my in-laws dinner and went over ground rules with them.  1) We will pay rent, we are not taking hand-outs.  2) WE are the parents.  We will discipline our son.  3) We will abide by your house rules, but we have ours as well.  4) We will buy our own groceries. 5) We will do our own laundry...please don't touch or fold my underwear.

Dinner was fine.  Everyone was receptive.  I felt better as I began packing my stuff so that I could leave at the butt-crack of dawn on Friday.  Why did I leave my husband and son behind to fend for themselves?  Because I have to finish out my job.  I have until the end of July (shoot me) to wrap up my work, to paint walls in the house, put flooring down, pack up everything else and then put the house on the market.  Fun times awaited me.

But, I had faith in my husband.  Faith that he could carry the torch on parenting while dealing with the awkward situation that is living with your mother --- when you're past your 30s.

I drove back with no dogs, no child, no husband.  I actually worked from my car and spoke to some friends, which helped the time pass.  And pass it did.  I made it back to the soon-to-be former Stoneking house in record time - 10.75 hours.  I'm not saying I was Speed Racer or anything.  But, there were less potty breaks, no time wasted trying to get dogs to eat regular, dry dog food with no treat food on it, no holiday traffic.

To say I crashed when I got home is an understatement.  But, Saturday was a new day.  A day to start painting.  A day to start packing.  A day to realize that there is a long, long road ahead of me.  Please for the love of all that is clean, PLEASE let it be a road with no detours.