Moving on

I’ve thought a lot about this blog and whether or not my writing is worthy of Internet space. I’ve gone back and forth about what I have to say and what I want to tell. So, why start one? That’s a good question, one that I’m still answering myself. The best answer that I have at this point is that my husband, Derek, and I are about to embark on one of the biggest adventures of our lives. We are packing up our house, quitting our jobs, and moving to Salt Lake City, UT in a little less than 50 days with no house or jobs waiting for us when we get there, at least not at this point.
For those of you that know Derek and I, adventure is nothing new to us. We love to travel, explore, and experience as much as we can in life, but this is a little different. This move is based on a whole lot of faith and the belief that our whimsy will pay off in the end. We have lived in Lubbock, TX for the last 10 years and it’s been pretty good to us. We wouldn’t have met if it weren’t for Lubbock, so for that I will always be grateful to the Hub City. However, we’ve always imagined ourselves somewhere else. Lubbock was never meant to be our permanent home and when we got married we told ourselves we’d move in 3-5 years. We celebrated our 5 year anniversary this last summer. It’s time to go.

We don’t have kids and don’t have anything tying us to Lubbock, so we basically hand picked where we wanted to go. Derek loves the outdoors. He wants to live somewhere where he can bike, run, ski, hike, climb, and anything else he can do outside. I want to live somewhere where I can go to plays, restaurant openings, art galleries, museums, and festivals. We looked at several cities, sticking to the western states, and Salt Lake was the best option that combined all of what we are looking for while still having a stable economy and a strong housing and job market (yes, we are still thinking like adults despite this crazy decision).  So, Salt Lake won. We visited together once this year and Derek has been a couple more times and, although I never in my life thought I’d live in Utah, I have to say it’s beautiful. It’s green and there are mountains and a lot of things to do in the city and around it. It’s diverse and active and there are big events all year long. That’s a stark contrast from where we’ve been living since college.

There are so many other things that I could say about this move and I’m sure I’ll tackle some of those in future posts, but, basically, the reason I am starting a blog now is to document this major transition in our lives. I want to remember what it is like to just pick up and move. To leave most things behind and start fresh somewhere new.

For the most part, this blog will be about what Derek and I do best: travel, explore, and experience as much of life as we can. If you are interested in following along with us as we make this transition, this will be the best place to do it. I can’t guarantee that my words will be better than the others but I will certainly try.

As we head west, journey with us.

Jaclyn