The Re Low Kay Shun

I started writing this post 2 weeks before we left for Charleston. We have now been here for a week on Tuesday. So if it seems a little bit out of order, it is. It took me 3 different attempts to finish this post - and reading through it I definitely know things are chronologically confusing.

Wouldn’t it be weird if every thing we wrote was spelled out phonetically? It would be. It would also be weird if I had written out every thing in this blog post that way. But I’m not going to. Because it’s too tough/annoying. And I’m blogging from work, so I want to write as quickly as possible so I can finish this before I’m on my way home.

Over the past 2 months the wife has been offered a few relocation opportunities. The company she works for (BA) is having trouble with their newest product line – go figure. They outsourced a lot of the work and of course they’re having issues. So now they’re scrambling to send people abroad – not that I honestly think it will help much.

She’s been offered Italy and Japan. And both times we had to decline. Mainly because they were not offering us a full year relocation – which meant that we weren’t going to be receiving the extra perks associated with relocating to another part of the world – mainly having the home you currently own paid for by the company while you live abroad – on top of them paying for your current place of residence.

And the only way we were going to survive is if I got a job in Italy or Japan – and since I don’t speak either of those languages, I don’t think it was going to fly.

The offer came through 2 weeks ago for Charleston, South Carolina. Given that it’s in the states and I might be able to work remotely out in SC (and will start working remote this week), we’re going to go ahead and pick it up.

I’m sure this post will be the first out of a multi-part series based on the relocation. There’s plenty of details I can hash out later on – and I’m sure I’ll be blogging more as soon as I get there (oh the things I’ll see!).

But for this post I wanted to write about the things I’m going to miss while I’m out in SC. Right now the assignment is 6 months – but I can almost guarantee that if provided the option (and maybe extra pay?) we might stay another 6 months (or longer) dependent upon whether we like it out there.

This is all happening so quickly. So it’s hard for me to adjust emotionally (such a wuss) knowing that I’ll be driving across the country in 2 weeks.

Last night I vacuumed the house (I hadn’t vacuumed in about 2 months – I usually do so once a month) and as I was vacuuming I realized this would be the last time that I would be vacuuming the house for some time. Not that I would miss vacuuming – but the fact that I wouldn’t be doing this act – along with mowing the lawn, taking out the trash, washing and putting away the dishes...so many of the daily things that we all do - that really I think we kind of don't recognize as being something special - because they are so routine.

On the drive out to the East Coast, about 2 days in, the wife and I were talking about things we were going to miss most about being in our house for the summer.

And for me, it was this:

We have the pond in our backyard. I get a good view of it from my office. I will have no view from my new office - but oh well.

Over the summers (the hot nights) I can't sleep until the weather has cooled down a bit. Which is usually around 10:30 or 11 pm or so.

So what I'll do is take a cold shower (not because of the reason you're thinking) around 9, come out, put on the basketball shorts and cutoffs and get a glass of ice cold water. This reminds me - I'm going to miss our French door fridge. It is pretty great when the temperature is getting up there to open up both doors and basically just stand in the 30 degree fridge. (Because you have to at our house in order to get ice and water). Anyway, I'll head back upstairs with the glass of ice water in hand, and I'll set up the fan aiming directly at my back.

I'll open up the window in front of me as wide as it will go, and listen to the chorus of frogs and crickets sing the night away.

And there I'll sit. While I cool off from the summer day. Whether it be blogging, or reading the net, or playing my Xbox - that's probably some of the best "me" time I get every summer night.

I don't know if I'm going to get that this summer. It seems like air conditioning is a requirement down here. And after spending a day out in the humid 87 degree heat today, I can understand why.

Just like up in Seattle how we keep our windows and doors shut to the outside to keep the heat in - I'm sure we'll be doing the same down here but instead to keep the heat out. But at least we're not the ones paying for the "heating" bill down here. But air conditioning to me just makes the air so stale. I suppose it will take some getting use to over the next few months.

I'm obviously going to miss my friends and family back home.

It's already hard for me to talk on the phone to my parents. I know they miss us. I definitely miss them. There's such a security blanket - which I knew was there but am only now beginning to realize how much I relied upon it. My parents were less than a 10 minute drive away from me at all times. Now I really don't have anyone to turn to. My family and a few friends - they were automatic. In a phone call we could be together. And now that's obviously not the case. Puts a knot in my stomach.

I'm going to miss the softball. Last year was my first full summer of playing softball. I had played baseball until my early teens and played some pick up baseball and softball whenever possible - but last summer I played from mid April to September. And I realized how much I had missed the fields - throwing the ball around - hitting and fielding.

The BBQs are another thing I've just come to expect while living out in Seattle. Everyone getting together, having a few beers and throwing some beef on the grill. Or maybe oysters. Since we just finished building our fence before we left I was thinking we were going to have a pretty solid back yard for entertaining purposes. I even replaced the propane tank so I was prepared for 3 or more stupendous months of grilling. And don't even talk to me about all the drinking I'm going to miss out this summer without all my drinking buddies.

I'm going to miss Husky football. Husky sports alone should have it's own post dedicated to it.

And although there is plenty of water around me - it's definitely not the same as what I had in Seattle. I'm going to miss Lake Union, Lake Washington, Greenlake - the San Juans, Alki...IMO those things are one of the major reasons Seattle residents put up with so much crap...Because anywhere you are in Seattle - you're only minutes away from a stunning view.

I already am missing the food. Tonight we went to a local grocery store and they didn't have either of the kinds of rice I like. I'm sure the rice we bought will be just fine, but if it turns out poorly, I'll know why. There's definitely no teriyaki out here. There's Chinese, but it's all Americanized crap. No Thai. No Mongolian. No modern/fresh mex. No good sushi. No Costco for 100 miles. No Taco Time. No Mcmenamin's/McCormick's or any other place that we loved to go to happy hour. But I have already found a few good places to eat after only a week of being here - so I'm hopeful I'll fill up that roster again.

I think that's good enough for now. Maybe I'll write another post like this come October and see how my thoughts have changed over the few months that I'll be here. We've finally moved in to the house we'll be staying in until at least Halloween. Crazy - I'm sure the kids will be dressed up and knocking on our door before I know it.