In Transition

In the past I haven't left one situation before I knew where I was headed. I had signed a contract for my first teaching job before I graduated from college, and each time I changed jobs over the last twenty years I never left one job until I had signed a contract elsewhere. When I resigned from my job a couple of months ago, I did it before Paul had found a job in his field. That made the decision more difficult. Paul has applied for 27 jobs thus far, and within a week that number should be at least 30 as 3 more are in progress at the moment. We still haven't heard whether his telephone interview last week will result in an invitation to interview on campus next month. Although we may not have a choice, accepting a visiting professor position is not our first choice because it means in another 1-3 years we'll be searching for another job for Paul and moving yet again.

We've never put our house on the market without knowing where we were moving, but that's what we'll likely be doing in about 5 weeks. I haven't paid rent since 2000, but we might be doing that later this year if Paul doesn't get a tenure track job. It doesn't make sense to buy a house if we know we'll only be living there for one year. I am not looking forward to packing this whole house up so I have started already to try to do it gradually. I packed up at least 20 boxes over the last two days. I figure it also will help with showing the house if a lot of stuff is already packed in boxes in the basement. I figure that by packing and hopefully getting the house under contract we are making it easier to move at the last minute if for example Paul got a job offer in July for an adjunct position that started in August in another state.

When I bought my first house (January 2001), I thought we'd live there for quite a while, but we moved 3.5 years later. When we moved in  July 2004, I remember saying that I thought we'd live in that house for decades. That house was close to my tenure track job and also not too far from Paul's dad's company (where Paul was working at the time). However it wasn't long until Paul decided he wanted to earn his Ph.D. in chemistry, and since his BS was in mathematics, he had to earn a MS in chemistry first (in chemistry most people go straight from a BS to a PhD). When we moved in September 2008, I knew we wouldn't live here for very long as we figured the odds were very slim that he'd get a job in his field close to our current home after he graduated from PSU. We were hoping he'd finish the program in 4-5 years, and he did just that and finished in 4.5 years. I really would like to settle down. With how often we are moving one might assume we were in the military or something like that!

The future might be a mystery to us, but God knows where will be living and what Paul's next job will be. I'll just keep praying that God will provide him with a job in his field and that we'll be able to sell our home quickly for a good price.