Well as anyone who knows me or who has been following this blog (or my previous Hong Kong blog) knows, Lee and I have been wondering where our final destination would be for almost a year. Probably about this time last summer, we started to get indications that our time in Hong Kong was coming to an end. At first it seemed likely that we would be sent to Singapore, but that idea didn’t hold up for long. By December we knew we were coming back to the US, but to where? Lee’s job in Austin was over, but the economy was in dire straits and nobody within the company was changing jobs. No retirees, no new departments, 3,000 additional layoffs…things did not look good. Jokingly we said that if we had to we could eat the scrawny deer in our neighborhood, or move in with Lee’s sister in Fayette!
When we came back to Austin in March we knew it was probably temporary, but for how long? In any other economy Lee would have known his next assignment before we ever left Hong Kong. But in this economy…would it take one month? Two months? Six months? Who knew.
The days, and weeks and months passed. We’d hear rumors; a plant here, a management job there. In June things started to move a little. He began to get resume requests and even a couple of phone interviews. It was hard to remain positive and even harder (for me at least) to not blather all my angst about this process to friends and family and the internet in general!
Finally in July Lee flew to Boston for an interview at a plant in Methuen, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston near the New Hampshire border. He went directly from that interview to New York and our east coast vacation. The HR director told him it could be a couple of weeks before he would find out the results. Torture!
The day we drove from New York City to the Berkshires Lee was scheduled to have a phone call with the director at 3 pm. Adrian was with us (Chris was meeting us at the house) when Lee’s phone rang. He immediately pulled off the highway, muttering that he had to take this “business call”. He left the car, wandering off by the side of the road, with me trying to play it cool and not make it too obvious that I was watching him anxiously in the rear view mirror. Imagine my relief to see Lee smiling and nodding while he talked on the phone! Finally!
So that’s it. We’re moving to Boston. We’re already in the process of working to get this house on the market. Lee’s new job starts September 1st so he’ll be commuting back and forth between Austin and Boston for awhile, until this house sells and we find a place to live up there.
I’m pretty excited. Excited for a new area of the country. Excited for Lee. Excited for living in a very interesting and historic city. I’m also freaking out at the amount of things I need to get done in a short amount of time, but that’s normal for me (to panic I mean). So as usual I’m trying to stay calm and just complete one task after another and not get annoyed at myself for the things that aren’t done yet.
We’ve certainly gotten a lot of moving experience lately! We’ll be very happy to be settled somewhere for awhile. We’re both pretty optimistic that the east coast will appeal to us.
Now, what am I going to do about the title of this blog? I think I’ll leave it as it is and it can become a metaphor for the repatriation process! Maybe.
Nope, I think it needs a name change but then who am I to know the logistics of doing that.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the real joy is that you are once again going to have permanent roots somewhere and in an occasions to hit the housing market just right. It almost feels like you can once again take a deep breath and really fill your lungs because even though there is much work ahead - there is an end, there is adventure, there are places to be seen and people to meet. All in a city with great tranportation , history, good food and many colleges if you so decide to take classes, work etc. Lynn- you are rolling girl and rolling to the end of the road where you can plant your feet!