Hesitant, Hopeful

I so rarely have good news to share that when I do I tend to put it off. Maybe I'm waiting for the other (inevitable) shoe to drop, but I tend to be skeptical of good things happening to us. This is where the pessimist comes in and when you hear our current good news, and the catch, you'll see why.

The Good: Matt got a promotion!!  He's been working for the same company for the last 26 months--though he's only officially been an employee for about 23 months (his first three months there were temp work). A lot of hard work has earned him the opportunity to move up into a management position. He has already begun the training.

The Catch: His promotion means that in six months we may have to move. The terms of his promotion are such that he must diligently apply for every single open management position within the company in the US (and possibly internationally) until he gets one. If he doesn't immediately get one, then he can stay in his currently location until he does, as long as he's continually looking.

This means several things for me, foremost that I may not be able to attend more than one semester of doctoral work at TWU before we have to move--which means looking for another program at another school. It also means I'll have to give up my job, which I love, and that if he moves mid-semester I'll have to stay behind until the semester ends--whether that semester is Fall 2014 or Spring 2015. It also means we could end up in California, Arizona, Utah, Missouri, Wisconsin, or a handful of other states where his company has facilities, we don't know.

At this point, his job is the most important thing, though. We're at the point where career > continuing education, even if my chosen career field requires that I get more education before I'll be able to find a good job. I can always look for another program, but there's no guarantee that I'd be admitted. Also, he may have to move every few years to keep advancing, which presents further complications.

So you can see, at least a little bit, why good news isn't always something I'm willing to discuss. It seems like there's always a catch that makes one of us a casualty. That said, this is a pretty big deal and we're both really excited about what it might mean for us in the near future--even if we're moving at Christmastime. This is the way marriages work, compromises must happen for both people to succeed and, hopefully, as my mother is fond of saying, everything will come out in the wash.