Blog, oh blog, where have you been?

Actually, the title should be...

blog, oh, blog, I have been ignoring you. 

Ignoring you for the summer.  To spend with the kids. To go to the beach. To swim in the pool. And oh, yeah, to look for a job.

Our summer of adjusting to being local seemed to fly by.  It was filled with good intentions of painting and organizing and lots of other ambitious goals.  What it was really filled with was amazing weather, time at the beach, meeting new neighbors at the pool, avoiding other neighbors (that is a whole other blog, trust me.) and just basically being amazed at being here.

The shock is beginning to wear off.  Every time we were at the beach this summer still felt like vacation.  Then, my husband and I would look at each other and still say, "I can't believe we actually live here."  It was still hard to believe we don't have to pack everything up and make the long dreaded trip back to Indiana.  You know what I mean.  The last day of your vacation when you are just dreading that your days in the sun have come to an end.  Dreading the long drive home.

Our "long drive home" from the beach is about 7 minutes now. We don't live on the beach.  (I moved, I didn't win the lottery).  We live in a small little town a few miles from the beach. But we live close enough.  Close enough that you can smell the salty ocean air when it rains. Close enough that if you get to the beach and realize you forgot something, you can just run home and back in 20 minutes.

But still, the shock has to wear off sometime.

Now that the kids are back in school, the new reality is setting in.  There are still the mundane tasks to be done.  The laundry that is never-ending.  The kitchen that gets dirty again the minute that you clean it. And the reality that I still don't have a job.

When the kids were home during the summer, it was easy to occupy my time with them. It seemed OK that I hadn't found a job yet.  My morning routine in the summer was to spend some time on the computer in the morning looking for job postings, applying for positions that I thought suited me and then hanging out with the kids the rest of the day.

But, they are back in school now.  And, here I am, still unemployed.  I have a bit of job envy.  Ron applied for one job, had one interview and landed a job.  I have applied for countless jobs (really, I stopped counting because it was depressing me) and gone on three interviews.  Three. Every day there seems to be another job rejection email just waiting to brighten my day, mocking me from its bold type in my inbox.

These are the moments that reality sets in. These are the moments when I sometimes ask myself, "What did I get myself into?"  I had a great job.  I had great friends. I had great neighbors (OK, most of them were great).  I miss those friends, those neighbors. I miss working.

But then, I have moments like this afternoon.  Sitting on the beach.  It's 85 degrees.  It is October 2nd.  And, I have my husband on one side of me and my mother on the other side.  I take a deep breath.  I smell the ocean air.  I listen to the waves hitting the sand. 

This move was a leap of faith...the landing may not be as smooth as I would have liked, but how can I possibly complain?