Crossroads

As many of you already know, Kevin has been, for some time now, unemployed. He has also actively been seeking employment ever since the day he lost his job. It has been three months now, and although he has had some interviews, he has yet to find anything.

While I realize the market is tough right now, and that the really economy sucks, I still don't understand how it is that someone as qualified, talented, and dedicated as my husband can be interviewed for positions that he is absolutely perfect for, and yet somehow, not get hired for any of them. This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me. At all.

For the most part, he isn't applying for "pie in the sky" types of jobs, either - he's applying for basic office/administrative assistant types of jobs that in all likelihood won't pay him anything near what he used to make, but he is more than qualified for. The man has a college degree, for goodness sake - plus real world experience. He's intelligent, flexible, a fast learner - I just don't get it. I don't understand it one bit.

I'm not sure what the numbers are up to now, but I know that about a month into this process, he had already applied for well over 100 jobs. Edit - just spoke with him, and as of last week, he is nearing 200 jobs applied for...

Part of the problem that he and I have come to realize over the last three months is that Orlando, as a metropolitan area, is somewhat limited in the types of jobs it even has to offer. Most everything out there right now is either sales/marketing, IT, or healthcare. And, with a bachelor's degree in a subject that doesn't readily lend itself to any of those fields - History - it's somewhat understandable why he's been having such a difficult time finding anything. I can't really picture the man doing sales - he's not the pushiest of people - and while he would be good at something IT-related, he is definitely not qualified without any formal training. And healthcare? We won't even go there.

In any case, all of this to say that recently, Kevin and I have been seriously re-evaluating our lives here in Central Florida.

For some time now, he and I both have been getting somewhat antsy - discontent, if you will - with the status quo. We've grown weary of the heat, the humidity, the lack of vegetation other than palm trees, the tourist traps, the serious lack of precipitation, and the overabundance of allergens that are present year-round. We're ready for a change. A big change.

Last year, we visited Seattle for the first time. And, straightforward: We fell in love. With the city! With the Pacific Northwest. With the hip, liberal attitude, and the vibrant downtown. With the sustainable, earth-friendly, locally-supplied restaurants and the availability and ease of public transportation. With the proximity of towering, mysterious mountains juxtaposed against the coolness of the Pacific Ocean. With the lush environment and the overcast, windy days. We even loved the rain.

So it's no surprise that for the past year, our sleeping dreams and waking daydreams have been overrun with thoughts of relocation. We constantly engage in conversation that has evolved from "how awesome it would be to live there..." to now "how awesome it will be when we live there..." - moving to Seattle has gone from being a pipe dream to now being a near certainty in our future. The only uncertainty left is precisely when that move will happen.

We go back and forth over whether it would be best to move sooner or later. There are certainly pluses and minuses on each side of the matter.

If we hold off on the move for a few more years, that would certainly give us time to save up money, and it would also give us time to possibly start a family - have a baby, and share that experience with all of his family that lives locally here in Orlando. Having family nearby would certainly make having a baby easier - aside from having built-in babysitters (which would of course be a huge plus), simply having the love and support so close would be wonderful. And of course, there is the part of us that truly doesn't want to deprive his family of the opportunity to share that experience and those early baby years with us.

However, on the flip side, if we move within the next year or so, that would give us an opportunity to really enjoy the city together and go out and explore our new corner of the country without having to worry about a baby, too. We could live downtown in an apartment built for two (and a dog!), and we'd be free to stay out late exploring the city's nightlife, and to go off on weekend adventures kayaking Puget Sound or hiking the Cascades. We could really take the time to establish ourselves in our new locale - to find good careers and to really build a life for ourselves out there, before adding a baby into the equation.

I also read a report recently about the current state of the nation's economy that had a map showing where the recession was throughout the country, and where it was going in the future. Washington (and most of the Pacific Northwest) is expected to be the first area of the country to recover from this recession - meaning that it would certainly be the most ideal place to be once things start to pick back up, especially since it's already showing slight signs of recovery. On the other hand, Florida is expected to be one of the very last parts of the country to begin recovery. It's likely that even now, Kevin will have a better chance of finding a job in Seattle than he has had for the last three months looking in Orlando.

So, with all of these many factors on the table, he and I are certainly standing at a crossroads in our lives. Relocating to Seattle would mean a HUGE change - undoubtedly, one of the biggest changes of our lives. We would be thousands of miles away from everything and everyone we have ever known. We would truly be on our own. But with Kevin's unemployment situation nearing four months now and with no hope of future prospects, the thought of picking up and starting anew - of wiping the slate clean and moving somewhere full of new possibilities and untapped potential - is beyond tempting.

We are nowhere near making any final decision at this point - if anything, it's likely Kevin will simply start applying to jobs in both cities. And wherever fate decides to lead us, we just may follow.