The Rest of the Story: 2025 ✨

 What a weird time that was. 

I'm not sure if anyone was entirely immune to the "wtf" nature of this last year but there are always points of joy amongst the muck. 

The year started off losing my grandpa Harold; you can read about him in an earlier post. I don't know what happened in February and much of March. I'm sure I was there. 

April was when things really changed. If you don't know the story, this is the short version (though it may not seem it). After numerous last straws in Hays, America (that'll be a whole post on it's own some day) the final boss straw came up. 

After trying out every opportunity afforded by our rural hamlet, Jason thought he'd try one last time and apply to bag pick up orders at Dillons. Get some steps in, chat with the shoppers, no big deal. Upon his SECOND visit, this is important to remember, the interviewer mentioned that they "have a policy" and he'd have to "cover his tattoos", while gesturing to her face (with her tattooed arm). He asked if they'd like him to come in with a mask on or a bag over his head. It was too absurd to not be somewhat humorous (they didn't notice the first visit?) but also too stupid to be tolerable. Multiple cashiers have visible tattoos, even facial tattoos. It was a puzzling situation to say the least, with much that came before, but it felt like the last exit to somewhere. We had the discussion we'd had many times of "what now" and on Sunday night, our eve of our 10th wedding anniversary, I told Jason to call someone and see what we could get from our house as a start to an exit strategy. On Monday, we had a number and an interested party. On Tuesday, April 1st, we sold our house to some awesome youngins that thought "it was the coolest house they'd ever seen". Then the true madness began. 

If you noticed that our "strategy" above did not include anywhere for us to live, you'd be correct. It wasn't until after we signed the paperwork to sell our Hays house that we had a moment to figure out the rest of that strategy. We'd considered for many years getting back to Colorado but since I had not found a job paying, at minimum, twice what I made then, it wasn't even an option. That was the case for many places, as most people know. We had a list of basic parameters for where we preferred to be and Jason put those into ChatGPT and asked for some cities that met those expectations. It came up with Peoria, IL. I checked it out and it's got downsides but it checked most of our boxes. It's also important to remember neither of us have stepped foot in Illinois to any real extent. 

Jason found a house he was interested in on the old Zillow. I thought it looked interesting--it was old, it had big porch pillars, it was central to town, all pretty good on paper and very affordable. We contacted someone, we got a virtual tour via video call, and we started the process to buy it that week. The house is another drama all in itself (lots of undisclosed details and thousands of dollars of unexpected work) but that's the one we bought and we're making the best of it. It has much potential and is slow going but it's going. That left us with the next obstacle of me having a job in Kansas and a house in Illinois. 

We got the Hays house fixed up with much help, we got Jason and the (absolutely furious) kitties transferred to Illinois with much help, and I was able to spend most of the fall semester with my beloved Nuggets in Kansas thanks to my family giving me a place to live during the transition, and a conveniently placed bestie who was kind enough to host me on my ocassional "commute". After much longer than expected, but I believe in the time it was meant to take, I was offered a student support position at Bradley University just a few minutes down the road from my house. 8 months of uncertainty, exhaustion, and stress but with it came lots of support. I could write pages on what happened during that time, but that's enough for now. 

[If you want to read my Farewell to the Fort, you can find that on the HC blog.] 

Unfortunately, I also lost a great-uncle in the summer and another grandparent right at the end of the year (she'll have a post soon, too). It was a year of big changes and we're very lucky to be able to make those changes but when you move on to something new you're leaving something else. While we were excited about the new opportunities and getting to be somewhere that suited us better, there was a lot of loss and grief coming in many forms. We all know the world was WEIRD and most of us know why but there's so much uncertainly there that it's hard to keep from wallowing in that, especially when the rest of your life is kinda weird too. 

I've been HOME home for a month and I've finally been able to start feeling like I live here. My husband is glad for a break from his own cooking. My cats might finally be convinced that I'm here to stay. We've been able to explore the city a little more and are spending time with the Unitarian Universalist community and meeting some cool people there. (I don't feel like saying I go to "church" sounds appropriate but they call it that.) We both miss some of what we left behind but the silver lining of knowing people in higher ed is that many of them don't stay in one place for long. They're on the move and now we are the people they can visit south of Chicago, and they are scattered all about the country for us to visit. It's harder to stay in touch but we make the effort because we know people worth the effort. 

My new job is going well and the new boss is excited to have fresh eyes on their process. I think I can be of use here and I'm pleased I get to continue doing student support, even if it looks quite different than it did before. If I haven't mentioned it--the mascot is a gargoyle named Kaboom and it's one of my favorite things. Out with the black and gold, in with the red. One of their taglines is: Whatever you do, BE YOU. 

While I could write chapters more, these are the big plot points to catch you up. So, what have you been up to? 

If you know the saying....we'll see if it plays in Peoria...

Did I mention we live 5 minutes from the Illinois River?