Exceptance

Before all of you snobby English Majors freak out about my misuse of accept/except, hear me out.

I have been waiting YEARS to write this post.  I have written, and rewritten it a thousand times in my head.  "JT graduated!" or "JT is officially a PA" or "I can shop at Target again without freaking out about going over my budget".  There are a million different posts I have thought about writing.  I had no idea that I would end up writing about "Exceptance".

After a month of back and forth between a few different medical Groups in Las Vegas, JT has finally officially ACCEPTED an offer!  It is crazy to be on the other side of the acceptance spectrum.  We spent a few years filling out applications and praying for acceptance into PA school.  We cried with joy when we were accepted to UW's MEDEX program. It was a wonderful relief to finally be accepted.  I hadn't really thought about when we would be on this end of it.  I hadn't thought about how we would be sifting through offers for jobs and that it would be us making the choice.  And JT's approval and acceptance would finally be the one that matters.

So here we are.  We have accepted the offer that we felt was best.  The only problem is all of the exceptance I feel.

I accept the idea of having a new home, with a pool, in the sunshine.
Except, I am sad to leave behind the smell of fall and the changing of the seasons.  As much as I can't stand the gloom of Seattle, I love the green. I am tired of the eager, stressed out reaction I have to a sunny day.  I abandon all of my indoor responsibilities, and become reckless in my need to soak up every last drop of daylight because "who knows when we will have another day like this?"

I happily accept the idea of going on a new adventure.  I have been craving a change of scenery for years.  I have been wishing for a home where the sun shines often, with new faces, new roads, and new surprises.
Except, I am sure I will miss the familiarity of the place I grew up.  I know the ins and outs, I know the people, I know what to expect.

I am excited to accept the new relationships and stronger relationships I will build.  We will be moving closer to two of JT's brothers.  One of which, we haven't lived by for years.  I am excited to be close to him and his family. I am excited to have a new stronger relationship with my sister in law.  And to be close to his other brother and family as well.
Except, I have to leave the family here that I love.  My kids LOVE their cousins.  It is a friendship much deeper and more special than they have with most of their friends.  I look up to my brother in law and sister in law for so much help and direction.  And when my sisters come to get their hair done we laugh like only sisters can.  We have family parties, Christmas, 4th of July, Halloween, Holidays that have been built around family.  I am so sad to leave them.

So for all of the things we accepted when we agreed to the job in Las Vegas, there have been an equal amount of exceptance to go along with it.

Here's to a New Adventure! (And a new word that I just made up "exceptance" that will probably go viral.)


UPDATE: Apparently I never hit "post" when I wrote this.  We are now (March) living in Las Vegas, and don't have a pool.  Apparently not every home is built with a cascading waterfall into a giant clear blue pool.  My mistake.