New Year, New City

NEW YEAR, NEW CITY.

Coming at you with a 2021 life update we are so excited about that has been in the works for some time now. Let me tell you though, it’s been a journey to get here.

Figuring out what’s next is never easy. Neither is leaving a place you love dearly. The decision to leave Chicago is one that we’ve been talking through and praying on the last year or so.

When was the right time? Where was the right place to go next?

For someone who can be so indecisive about my own matters, and get caught up analyzing everything, it has been hard to know if we would be making the right choice for any and all of these questions.

Ultimately, we found peace in focusing on a couple things I’m often reminding other people to focus on.

What are the things I know to be true? What is the right, best single next step?

Things we know to be true…

It’s been 5 1/2 amazing years in Chicago. It’s where we started our marriage, where we have learned and adventured, where we created a home away from home, and friends became family. If I write much more, I’ll probably tear up for the 20th time, so you can find my full love letter to The Windy City here.

Truthfully though, we’ve felt the itch to figure out what’s next for sometime now. As 2019 ended and 2020 began, we were hungry for our next adventure.

We have other places we love and can see ourselves in. We’ve talked about living abroad, or moving to Denver or Boston. We talked about going back to Austin, our first city love, and buying a cozy little house for us that could become a rental property when the next thing called. We’ve talked about exploring these options through work, or even outside our current roles.

Then cue a global pandemic, changing feasible options and bringing a new set of worries. We’ve been incredibly grateful to have jobs in the craziness that was 2020, and now be in a position where working remotely could even be possible long-term.

That brought up other thoughts… it’d be nice to be closer to family during this time, especially since we don’t know how the world will continue to look and change in 2021 (although we are hopeful for the best!). When we’re able to travel regularly again, it’d be great to use our time to visit new places, instead of having to portion out travel back to see family in Texas, because we could already be closer to them than half-way across the country. And wouldn’t it be nice to have more space and finally get a dog? (A really top-of mind thought, a dog to cuddle and join in on all our fun.)

The right, best single next step…

AUSTIN. The city we both truly first fell in love with. The city we fell in love in.

The only place in Texas we could really see ourselves living. A place with people and community, like us, that believe in and advocate for things that are important to us here in Chicago. A place that has challenges like any spot, but also so much culture, joy and uniqueness.

Austin has changed so much since we lived there almost 6 years ago. It can bring the newness and change we’re craving, but also the comfort of being closer to loved ones, and the benefits of space and hopefully a home.

We’ll get to be closer to family, but also have friends and some familiarity to build community (safely!) during this time, where it’d be much different doing it completely from the ground up elsewhere in this COVID-19 era.

And ultimately, by moving to Austin, we aren’t tying ourselves down to the city forever, unless we want to! We aren’t stuck. (A feeling those closest to me know I often fear the most.)

After much discussion and prayer, it just feels right and hopeful and exiting! It’s the best single next step we can choose for now, with what we know to be true inside and outside of ourselves. There is true joy in that and what the future will hold.

Friend, will you pray for us and this next chapter? Our apartment is currently a U-Haul box war zone and movers are coming this weekend. Eeek! We are praying for a smooth move and settling into the city this month. And if you have recos for Austin, I want ’em! I feel like we don’t know any of the cool stuff anymore, our spots are probably old news. Ha!

If you’ve made it through this long train of thought, thank you – for your time, support and being along on this journey. I’m excited for the change, and even more excited to be doing it with my BFF by my side (love you, E).

Chicago will always have a piece of our hearts.