Well, here we are, still in Alabama after two years. Nothing went like we planned!
In the first of 1999, Walter took one semester of school, and was working full-time at night at the same time. I didn't see him except on weekends! He would be up and gone before I got up, and he wouldn't come back home until after I had gone to bed! It was pretty rough! But he aced his classes, and was ready for a break by summer. He vowed to do some work on the house, and we decided to make the closed-in garage our master bedroom. Unfortunately, Walter was working all the time (even on weekends!) and found it hard to get the motivation to do much to the house in the little spare time he had. I finally found a full-time job as well, and really enjoyed getting to know my co-workers and finally getting to do some REAL Human Resources work for a change! Then, at the end of June, I got terribly sick and couldn't figure out why I couldn't get rid of constant nausea! My co-workers insisted I was pregnant, and I told them I didn't think it was possible after 7 years of marriage! They were right! July 1st I found out I was about 6 weeks pregnant! It was a shock to both of us, and a wild ride from there!
After that, motivation was not a problem for Walter! (LOL!) We decided instead to make the garage the nursery for our new arrival, and that we could build onto the back of the house and create a much bigger master bedroom. It took the rest of the year to get that accomplished, and even after the birth on February 14, 2000, the nursery was still not ready! Another couple of months and the nursery was complete, and finally it was time to enjoy our new son. Little did we know, parenthood was (and still is!) the greatest (and most exhausting) experience in the world!
Walter changed jobs around March, moving to a place working on helicopters instead of airplanes, and also to a day shift instead of night shift. He and I are on the same schedule now, so we get to see each other every night! Unfortunately, he hasn't returned to school. They have temporarily discontinued their flight program and he really can't see the point of going back into AMT classes right now. We have decided, then, that our best plan for now is to sell our house and move back to Georgia. Now with our son over a year old, we really feel the need to be close to family, where the grandparents can enjoy our sweet toddler. Hopefully, if things work out right, I will be able to stay at home with my son while Walter works. We're unsure about school right now, but he is checking into the possibility of going to a flight school in Macon. I suppose we'll have to wait and see how it goes. We're kind of playing this all by ear.
But Alaska is not put off entirely. We still intend to go there someday, but right now our family is taking precedence. We're both glad to be going back "home", as they say... Alabama was never our "home" even though we've lived here for more than 2 years and have enjoyed our stay here. We dread the busyness and overcrowdedness of the Atlanta area, but can only hope that being with family will override any inconveniences.
So... here we go again, another move, another fixing up of houses and putting it up for sale... hey, maybe by the time we're actually ready to move to Alaska, we'll have this moving thing down pat! LOL!
For all of you who have the same dream, don't give up! Keep at it, like we're doing, and eventually you'll make it! (Probably sooner than we will!! LOL)
Keep the faith!
Denise