Full Circle

Rob and I received this bottle of Moët & Chandon from a guest of our wedding on September 6, 2003. It sat in our wine rack for a year or two until one of us pulled it out and said "are we ever going to drink this?". It was then that we decided we would wait to open it until Rob received a job offer... a real one. Humboldt State University didn't count, seeing as it was a last minute decision in the summer of 2006.

The bottle traveled with us to Cincinnati from Illinois, then to California from Cincinnati, where it patiently awaited, chilling in the refrigerator. The bottle became this sort of God-like figure, and we started to see it as a "when we get the fuck out of here, we'll open it" instead of "when Rob gets a job, we'll open it" mantra.

Friday, February 16, 2007. Did we ever think this would be the day the bottle would open? No, because you never think about it. You never want to believe that the thing you put upon a pedestal will ever really happen. Why would you do that to yourself? Why should you let yourself want it that much? It's like Thurm said the other day, it's good to think pessimistically, because when something good happens, you can be pleasantly surprised. Not the best mantra to go through life, but it works.

At 4:45 Friday, February 16, 2007, Jeff Abernathy from Augustana called our house and offered Rob the position of Assistant Professor of Piano. I'm not going to tell you the starting salary (unless you're a really dear close friend and I've already spilled the beans), but I'll say this... Augie is a private, selective college with money out the yang... I'm talkin' deep pockets in the institution. Rob will, start out, making 3 times what he makes at HSU... with a raise every other year until he (fingers crossed) makes tenure. After tenure, a significant bump in pay with raises every year until he tops out at full professor... our 40's and 50's will be good years.

I don't know how to describe to all of you how we've been feeling the last two days. Elated, surprised, anxious, excited. Neither one of us can sleep because our minds are running at warp speed, thinking of all the wonderful things we'll be able to do once home. We can see our parents (with the exception of my Dad and Cathy) any time we want. We can see Les and Corey anytime we want. We'll be able to see Kal, Wade and the kids a heck of a lot more than once or twice a year. I'll be able to see my sister, my brother-in-law, and finally see my nephew again. We can be a part of our nieces lives. We can shop at Hy-Vee again! Gas won't be $3 a gallon! Rob can begin his career in the same place he will retire, his dream job. And I can finally start my theatre company, in a place I love more than any other... Home.

Rob said today "Are we making this move home out to be more than it really is?". I didn't even have to think before saying "No". It will be five years this August that we left the Quad Cities. Almost five years to the day. I look back on that time and see two young kids, confused and scared, trying to make their way out into the big, scary unknown. Cincinnati was good to us. We fit there, we loved it there, and we miss it terribly. But come the summer of 2006, we were ready to move on. We both needed to get away, we needed space from Cincinnati, to figure some things out. Our marriage is strong, deep and wiser for coming to this place. I, too, am stronger. I feel sturdy, I feel warm, and I feel that I finally understand myself. Maybe that is something that comes with age and would've happened no matter where we were, but something deep inside says I needed to come to California to find myself. To understand how deep the roots of our marriage had grown. And to understand what we both needed and wanted in our lives. The answer? Quite simply, to buy a house, be close to our family and friends, work in careers we are both passionate about, and have a baby. It took five years and traveling in all manner of directions throughout the country, but now we understand.

We are already making plans for our return. It will be a sweet homecoming, knowing what awaits us when we get there. And we just...can't... wait.