May be time for a change of venue.

Being slapped in the face with the reality of ones mortality (again) gives cause for thoughts of change.

I’ve been quite the reflective lad in recent years – resurrecting old photos gives rise to this sort of demeanor.  I enjoy it and will always find some solitude in reviewing past good times.  But Loretta and I have been giving serious consideration for a change of venue again.  We’ve been in the valley (coming from the Central Coast) now going on 14 years.  It may be time to pause the reflecting and bring forth some thought to the future.

This time it stems not only from a disdain for the locale in which we now reside, but to real future plans as to where we want  to “pasture” ourselves…for truly positive reasons.  We’re considering moving one more time.

The list of geographic candidates in relatively short.  Seattle, the Central Coast (our last longtime stomping grounds), and Albuquerque.  We’ve discussed other places but they fall short of compelling reasons to move there.

Our goal is to make a move before next summer.

Weather (good and bad) is certainly a determining factor.  Even Loretta has grown tired of the oppressive summers here in the central valley.  Her “fear” of copious amounts of precipitation in the pacific northwest has faded a bit as well.

The specter of moving anywhere is probably the biggest deterrent.  Geeze, let’s face it.  Packing up and blowing town will not be as easy for us as in past moves. Packing up and moving to another state?  Even more daunting.  Securing employment prior to the move (believe it or not) is the least of our concerns. I am confident we can both secure transfers from our current employer.

Without sounding totally narcissistic, we must make this decision with our own well being at the top of the Pros list.

There will always be the option of not going anywhere.  We’ve talked about that. We are pretty comfortable in our current situation.  That would be the least difficult thing to do, or more accurately, not do – stay here.

Staying here will illicit a lot of “what if’s”.  Moving anywhere may bring about some, Lord please forgive me, regrets.  With that in mind, whatever we do or don’t do, I must reconcile this decision beforehand.  I must be confident that whatever decision we make is the right and proper thing to do – we must pull the cord, execute the logistics, and move forward with only vigor and positive thoughts…even if we stay here.

Today, this morning, we have not made the decision regarding any move.  I feel that commitment best be set aside until after the surgery.  Certainly the outcome and prognosis from that will weight heavily on what we ultimately do.  Whatever we end up doing will surely solicit opinions from others, mostly well-meaning Devil’s Advocate type advice like, “Are you sure you wanna do this?”  I will welcome those thoughts presented with a caring for our well being, which is how we are approaching this move/no move decision as well.

Quite honestly, at this point, we are leaning toward Seattle.  I like wearing sweaters!