Goodbye Tucson

 

 

 

 Five years ago if you would have asked me about Tucson, I would tell you that it was a dirty college town with nothing but dirt and cactus.  Well I couldn't have been more wrong.  Tucson is an amazing city.  It's funny how things work out.  I remember back when we were living in Chicago, and I found a awesome job that wanted me and wanted to pay for us to move there.  KC got into U of A, and it all worked out perfectly.  Except... that it was Tucson.  I kept telling myself it would just be for a couple years and that God was in control.  Well, he was, and we stayed for 5 years.  It only took about 6 months and Tucson grew on me.  The culture, the sunsets, the mountains, the people, the restaurants, the shopping, the amazingly gorgeous white pueblo houses that I so wanted to live in.  I grew to like Tucson way more than Phoenix (sorry, but its so true).  It is Arizona in its more natural state.  It showcases the desert beauty, instead of masking it with grass and palm trees.  Drivers here are still pretty horrible, but all in all I can honestly say now that I LOVE Tucson.  

Tucson has given me my family.  Literally.  This city is such a melting pot, it is really hard to find people who live here that were actually born here.  Well I can say now that my husband and two wonderful kids were born here in Tucson.  Because of this, this city will mean so much more to me than any other place we have lived or will ever live in.  We started our family here.  We have so many wonderful memories here.  Our friends here having kids at the same time, the Tucson zoo - so many weekends spent there, this house -- it gave us room to spread out, it gave us a perfect yard for kids, it gave me a 5 min commute to work, 5 min commute to the park, the JCC - such a blessing.  Not only did it provide a great environment for Rhone in daycare, but we spent most of our summer soaking up the water.  Rhone learned how to swim there! He met friends, he opened up to so many people there. These are just a few of the wonderful experiences we've had in the last 5 years.  

We have met so many wonderful friends, and we will miss them all so much.  Another huge accomplishment that was made here was KC graduated from U of A.  It was a long road, but I'm so proud of him and thankful that he got his degree in not only a hard subject that he loves, but that he can use it for his new job (which is pretty rare now a days). 

 And above all we will miss family.  We both were born and raised here in Arizona and KC's family are all about 2 hours away.  They have been SO much help to us and have loved on our kids which is such a gift.  Rhone knows each and everyone, and has such a great time when family gets together.  It will be heartbreaking when we can't see them as often as we do now.  I thank you all for loving us and loving our kids.  You will never know how much that means to me.  It's such an amazing thing to share the ones your most proud of with others.  And is fun to watch them get just as excited about their lives as we do.  

On the flip side... I am excited for our kids to finally be able to know their other grandparents (my parents) just as much and for them to meet and get to know their other aunts, uncles, and cousins.  To see Rhone play with my sisters kids who are all about the same age, has been a dream of mine for awhile now.    

Life is full of twist and turns.  Those twist and turns are what makes life exciting.  I have prayed almost everyday for about 6 months for KC and God has in his own perfect timing blessed us with this new adventure.  

We are moving at the end of the month to Kirkland, WA.  KC got a job at Orb Optronix as a Applications Engineer.  He is excited to finally be using his knowledge in Optics and getting back into the work force.  As for myself, I finally get to be a stay-at-home mom.  This alone is the most exciting and biggest answer to our prayers.  Many, many tears have been shed over having to work while my kids are so young.  And although we are taking a pay cut and moving to a new state, this is why.  I thank my wonderful husband who knew how badly I needed this and God for making this happen.  There are mixed feelings however, because I do so badly want to stay home at least for a year or so, but at the same time I love what I do.  When your really good at something and it's a heartfelt job it's hard to just walk away.  But if I've learned anything from my patients, it that you need to live life now, because you never know what your future holds.