Vertigo: a sensation of whirling and loss of balance, associated particularly with looking down from a great height

These last few months have been dizzying. Disorienting. Confusing. We were so sure we were moving to Ghana.

And then we weren’t.

A year’s worth of exhausting work evaporated overnight. 

We found ourselves living a life that had been rearranged to accommodate moving to Ghana, not what we wanted or could even tolerate long-term.

I had left my teaching job. Ken had only been able to find employment at Chick Fil A. We have no friends in our town. Our church is an hour away. I work long hours, 7 days a week. I have no paid time off. We have no one locally to call on if the kids need picked up from school, if Ken and I need to travel, or if we just need a helping hand. The remnants of the life that we intended were impossible to put back together again. Life was not sustainable. There was nothing to hold on to in order to make the spinning stop.

And then we were asked to consider moving to Oregon.

My parents and brother’s family live in Oregon. I went to high school there. But the logistics of a cross country move are daunting. We live in a slow real estate market. Our house was for sale for over a year before we bought it. Changing medical jobs is really hard, especially when the job market is a mystery. I have a horrific out clause with my job. Moving across country is prohibitively expensive. The vertigo increased.

But what if?

So we started walking through doors. Waiting. Expecting them to close.

Ken got a great job at my parents’ church, which my grandfather built.  

I got a job at a clinic where they understand faith-based practice. Who offered to pay our moving expenses. And pay a significant chunk of my school loans off. And a signing bonus. And 6 weeks time off each year. Paid.  I would work normal hours.

We put our house on the market. It sold before the sign had been in the yard 24 hours.

I found the perfect house in Salem close to both of our jobs and in a great school district.

Family and friends I’ve known for decades will be nearby.

The spinning is slowing.

So we are packing up and moving closer to family where opportunities have been abounding, where we have local resources, and possibilities to invest long-term. And a chance to make the spinning stop.
The Jewett family’s next stop will be Salem, Oregon.