Carolina Bound

It was bound to happen at some point. I just thought it was going to end up with me in North Carlonia - I certainly tried on two occasions. The first time was when I was a senior in high school. For some reason, I had my heart set on going to NC State. I didn't know much about the school, but I applied, got in, and wanted to go. The "deal" for us and paying for college went like this - my parents would pay for four years of an in-state school. If we took longer than four years or wanted to to go an out of state school, we'd be responsible to pay the difference. Now that we have kids of our own and are looking ahead to the world of college tuition and weddings, I understand that was a great deal. At the time, I felt frustrated to have to attend one of VA's great public universities (of which we have many) or rack up unnecessary school loan debt just to attend a school in a different state. I amost begrudginly went to JMU where I just happened to meet some of the best friends of my life and have some of the best years of my life. I avoided North Carolina for a few years. After graduation from JMU, I got the bug to go back to North Carolina again. This time, I was going to attend UNC Charlotte where they had a Master's program in teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. I again applied, was accepted, visited the school on a road trip with my mom, secured an apartment, and registered for classes. When the trip had come to a close, something about it just didn't feel right, but I was going nonetheless. Fast forward a little bit, and insert trip out to Colorado for what was going to be two weeks of snowboarding fun. On day four of the trip, I hit a tree, break my back, and wind up spending the rest of my time in Colorado in Vail Valley Medical Center's spine trauma unit. It was a life changer for me in many ways.

One of those things that had to change was my grad school plan. I had to withdrawl from the classes I had registered for at UNC Charlotte and basically just spend a lot of time trying to get better and back on my feet again. Plan B became taking some grad classes at Mason (where they also had my Master's program of choice). Because I was getting a late start and couldn't apply to the program in time, I was able to select an option to take classes first, apply to the program second, and hope to be accepted so that your classes apply towards your degree. Thankfully, that all worked out as planned, I met Mark in that process, fell in love, and planned to finish up school here. North Carolina was averted for a second time.

Today, however, Shenley and the rest of the Williams family become official residents of North Carolina. They went to closing on their new house this afternoon, and all their stuff is in a moving truck on it's way to Asheville now. Although this move is a positive one for them, they will really be missed. It's easy to take for granted always having family in a close proximity. It's fun and easy to get together when we want, family events can be attended by all, the cousins are very close with each other, and we as families are very close with each other. We know moves are just a part of life. We know it doesn't need to change the parts of our relationship that are important, and we know that life in a new place can be a fun and exciting adventure. However, that doesn't mean that it's easy to see this era of close family proximity coming to an end. But, really, that's all that it is. For a time, it's the end of what we've been used to and the start of something new. So, we'll be down to Asheville to visit. Nina has also already asked if her daddy could get a job in North Carolina so that we could live near Emme. Mark would love to coach a university team, and I hear the soccer coach at NC State has been there for decades. Who knows, maybe I'll finally end up making it there afterall...just this time it won't be as a student!

Today is also Shen's birthday - Happy Birthday, Shen! What a day!