Thursday, June 21, 2007
Logs and Marines and bears, Oh My!
| In a slightly delayed Fathers Day nod to my father, I offer up this article from today's Macon Telegraph: And with that said, this does actually relate to my current big story: my decision to move to Wilmington, NC. When I first started my job hunt I had a rather long list of criteria for locations. Among the criteria were things like: Distance from my parents and grandmother, distance from a Krystal, distance from a pro hockey team, distance from a major university (for my eventual PhD pursuit) as well as distances from Conyers and Macon, GA where I have roots. When it got right down to it, the deciding factor was family. Bernida at Krystal said it best when I told her I was moving: You can always get another job. You can always get more friends and you'll never lose your old friends if they're real friends. But you only get one family. As the search went on, my geographic range grew larger and larger and my list of requirements got shorter and shorter. It finally narrowed to two schools. One near Myrtle Beach, SC and Wilmington, NC. I worked through my criteria. Myrtle Beach has a Krystal (Murrell's Inlet) and they'll have a hockey team in the next 3 years. Wilmington has neither, and neither one is even on the horizon at present. Both places are the same distance (2 hours) from a major university. Wilmington, however, is 2 hours closer to my parents and my grandmother. So it boiled down to which is more important: Krystals and Hockey or family. I love them all, but it's really no contest. Since I made my decision to go to Wilmington, there has been an endless flood of "signs" telling me I made the right decision. The day I signed my "letter of intent" was the day Ron Clark came to Macon. Ron Clark is from Eastern NC a little ways north of Wilmington. He and I discussed Wilmington when I met him. He told me I would love Wilmington, much the same as everyone else I have talked to who have spent time there. I am sad to be leaving my friends in Macon. I have already started having to say my good byes and they all hurt a little. There are plenty more to come. Lots of memories, lots of tears, and lots of laughs. But I have learned (the hard way) that if you spend all your time looking in the rear view mirror and crying over what you are leaving behind, instead of looking forward out the windshield and smiling about where you are headed, then you're going to run off in the ditch. Every time. Come to think of it, a ditch is just a big rut, isn't it? And I believe I discussed yesterday about how my life has slowly turned into one big rut. Now it makes sense.  |
Labels: Conyers, Macon, Wilmington
