Oregon Coast (Photo credit: alykat)
Not for the first time, I’ve recently been asked (just asked, not offered 
) if I would consider taking a job over on the left coast. Until 2005, the thought would never have entered my mind. What for? I like this side of the country, thank you very much. Then in the summer of 2005 I had a chance to visit Vancouver, British Columbia for a potential job. The job fell through, but the experience was life changing.
Turns out, I like the other coast.
Since then, other job opportunities have floated past or been suggested, but nothing that’s actually panned out (so far at least ). Every time, without fail, Kim and I play a little game, thanks to the power of the internet. We browse house listings, get an idea of what the costs are really like in the area, and daydream a little about what it would take (salary, expenses, etc.) for us to be able to move. This always ends with, “well, not today, but someday maybe.”
But it struck me this week, my time for making that kind of life change is running short. In four years(!), our oldest will be approaching her freshman year of High School, at which point we will be entering up to nine years of High School.
Yep. Makes me all gushy and thrilled to work that little bit of happy math out.
What that means is that I have about four years (or less) to make this kind of change happen, or it won’t be feasible for another fifteen or so. While four years isn’t long, its long enough to ask, what else can I accomplish in this window?
- Lose that weight. Surprised? Better not be.
- Finish a novel. And by finish, I mean writing it. This shouldn’t even be considered a stretch goal, but since I’ve done such a bang up job to date, it needs to be said.
- Send said novel out while working on second novel. Because the only way to fame, fortune, and publishing obscurity is by putting yourself out there.
- Fix up the house. Can’t sell an underwater den if no one would be interested in buying it.
- Financially obligation free (ie, as debtless as possible, minus the mortgage). One can daydream, right?
- And of course, get a job that puts us on the west coast. I’m not specifically partial to where at the moment, though that could change. As Kim and I get older, we ache more and gripe more, so someplace that makes us do that (ie, somewhere with snow six months of the year, for example) wouldn’t do.
Its good to have a plan, a set of goals that you want to work for. I might not make half of those goals. Knowing my track record, I might not make one of those goals. But each of them, in their own twisted way, feed into the long term goal that’s been forming, which is to move myself and my family across the country.
This post actually wasn’t inspired by Ken’s post about having a plan to be a full time writer. Just great timing. Oh yeah, if I can work the full time writer gig into this too, that would be sweet. OK, internet fairies, do your thing. Thanks!
