Exciting News!

{we heart it}

Happy Monday, pretty friends! Today I am excited because I finally get to share Matt and I's exciting news with you. I've been holding onto this news since last Monday, in an attempt to talk to all our friends and family before I talked about it on the blog. I still have a few friends I haven't been able to get a hold of yet, but a week is entirely too long for me to keep quiet on good news :)

Over the past month or so, Matt has been interviewing for a full-time, long-term job in Chicago, and last Monday, my sweet husband got word that he got the job!  This means that we are staying in Chicago.  Eeeek!  Our excitement and happiness is literally overwhelming; its hard to put into words.  Chicago is going to be our permanent home.

When Matt and I started this whole Ph.D journey thing, I don't think either of us knew what we were getting ourselves into.  Though we met each other as well as some fabulous friends in graduate school, the five-going-on-six-year process has been filled with a lot of uncertainty and hoop jumping.  Its felt like an Olympic hurdle event, only forget the 100 meter hurdles, this has been the 100 mile hurdles!  In addition to small hurdles (prelims, dissertation proposals and defenses, final exams, yearly reviews...) there has been the looming hurdle of what will happen when we're "done."  What route will we go, will we get a postdoc, where will we end up, what will our focus be?  These questions exist for everyone in our program, and trying to do this process with two people, well, that's been a second Olympic event in itself.  We've wondered how we'll manage the search process with both of us looking, who will take the lead, who will have to sacrifice the most, how will be deal with compromising when we've both given so much of ourselves the past 5 years to get through this program?  We've tried our best to focus on the present and not get ahead of ourselves, but that's easier said than done (especially for the planner-crazed me.)

But with this news, so many of our questions and prayers our answered.  So many of our fears have subsided.  We have a place to call home, we have some stability in this process, we can finally think about timelines and plans.  We finally know where HOME is going to be!  I will still have to complete my internship next year, and we're certain we'll be apart for this, as I didn't apply anywhere in the Chicago area.  Several of my options are close enough for weekend drives or short flights home, so we'll get through that just fine.  And knowing after that one year, we know where we'll be and we'll be together, that is beyond exciting!

In June, we thought this move to Chicago was just for a year, and then we got here and fell completely in love with this city.  And now, we get to call it home for years and years to come.  How blessed are we?  I've had a hard time putting my excitement into words, but the quick email I sent to Matt last week says it best:

"It is starting to hit me today.  We are staying in Chicago.  We are starting a life here.  We get to go apple picking for five more years.  We get to host friends.  We get to enjoy picnics in the summer. We get to ride the train.  We get to have a baby or two here.  We get to start our careers here.  We get to grow our marriage here.  We get to do it all, together, in Chicago.  I am so happy."

I'm so proud of my incredibly smart and talented husband for snagging this job, and I'm so excited to see what the future holds for us in Chicago.  Thanks for stopping by today to share our news and happiness with us.  Chicago, we're here to stay!