Decision!

  So in my last post, which by the way has been too long ago, I wrote of how I tend to handle making larger decisions, and how I tend to obsess over them (see: Decisions, Decisions).  I have not followed up since then on if I had made a decision yet.

  Well, I have.  More accurately, we have, as this decision involved my whole family, not just me.  At work, I have been pursuing an innovation which involves a new type of position.  This position involves embedding a development/integration position at a location that is not Huntsville.  As part of  bringing this to my program for consideration, I have volunteered to be the person to assume these new roles and responsibilities.  What this means is that I will be splitting time between here in Alabama and in:

(imaginary drum roll)

Colorado Springs, CO

  As I move into this role, the bulk of my time will gravitate towards CO.  What about my family, you ask?  For the next several years, E- and I did not feel comfortable doing a full-blown move to CO while the kids adult children are in college.  We wanted to have someone close enough to drive to Auburn or Starkville in case something came up.  Even with a larger part of my time being in CO, I will be in Huntsville periodically and E- will come out to CO to spend time there too.   Part of this will be E- and I feeling out how this works, how we feel about it and things like that.  Same goes for figuring out the work/position part.

 When I first mentioned this to E-, I expected a flat-out NO!  However, her response was "Heck yeah!" followed by "I would move there if we didn't have M and R in college close to here." It seems she is as ready for some life changes as I am.

 Will I be slightly nervous doing this?  Of course I will.  That is who I am; I cannot change that.  However, as I have told E-, one reason I feel like this is the path I am supposed to take is that I have not been stressed about it.  I have not even been nervous about it yet, other than just momentary "what about this" and "what about that" questions that pop into my head at random times.  This lack of stress and nervousness is not the norm for me, so I am taking this as my sign.

 We are ready for a new adventure and if this works out in the long run, it will be just that.  I see others that I know that move to various places and do not seem to be too phased by it.  E- and I have not done that since moving here from graduate school back in 1991, mainly because we loved the Huntsville/Madison area and the excellent schools located here for our children took precedence over anything else.

  I am excited.  E- is excited (or at least I believe she is!).  And, another shocker to me, M and R are excited about it as well.

  Will we end up in Colorado Springs permanently in the future?  I don't know.  But it is fun and exciting to know that over the next several years, that answer will take shape.

  I am sure future posts will bring new info on how this is all working, how my running is going now that I will definitely be getting plenty of training in altitude, and how E- and my adventures are taking shape.  For those of you in or close to Colorado Springs, give me a ping as I will be looking for establishing new connections while I am there.

 Here's to those of you that let me know how you handle making major decisions after I posed that question in my last post.  It was nice to see how everyone handles it slightly different, but kind of the same.  Big props to my father-in-law, Zeb, for sending me a nice email on past decisions he has had to make.  What all of you sent as comments, texts, or emails helped me organize my lists and gave me other things to think about at the same time.

 In my heart, at this point in time, I am confident that I have made the right decision.  That doesn't mean that I will not have to make another decision in the future related to this same item, but I will worry that in the future when/if it comes.

 I will ask another question in closing.  After making past major decisions, how did things turn out?  Do any of you regret the decisions you made or if things didn't turn out as expected, are you still glad you chose the path you did?

 Wish us luck on our new Clemens' adventure!