Congratulations, John!

John is retiring from Sandia after 29 years, and will be starting a new position with Raytheon in Tucson!!!! It was a hard decision because he has a lot of respect for Sandia and they have a lot of respect for him. He had an excellent career with Sandia. Raytheon is an unknown; it’s exciting, it’s scary, it’s risky. But we have decided we want to settle here, connect with the Tucson community, and start this new phase of our lives.

If you’ve wondered why I haven’t been posting much recently, that’s the main reason. I’ve been less able to speak my mind than normal, because John wanted to be able to tell his management before the news hit a public blog. And he wanted to wait to tell them until the offer was official. This new job has been in the works for some months now and it took forever for it to be finalized! It’s been difficult to find anything to say that didn’t allude to the probable (and now finally official) new job.

Meanwhile, we’ve been spending a lot time trying to figure out logistics. We’ve been strategizing everything from my own career, to what to do with the houses. Our primary home is in Albuquerque, as are our two rentals. We’ve decided for sure to sell our own home, and we might sell one of the rentals this summer too.

Moving benefits, real estate agents, storage units, potential medical insurance gaps, mail forwarding, new driver’s licenses…it’s a lot to juggle. In Arizona you’re supposed to get your new driver’s license immediately. The time requirement is something ridiculous, like a week after you move here. But when am I moving to Arizona? Now? Two years ago? When the moving van comes later in April? When John starts his new job in early May? When our primary residence in Albuquerque sells? Who knows and whatever. We’ve just got so much un-fun stuff to do.

But wow, we’re going to finally actually live here! Together! Yay!

Here we are, celebrating over ramen:

Here we are on a recent hike, which we mostly spent in heavy discussion about all the big moving-related issues.

We’ve seen very little of each other this winter and spring, and have been having difficulty finding time to have fun AND do the talking needed to make all the big decisions.