The Great Migration

Over the past year we have noticed a trend, several old friends are returning home. LA, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Atlanta, Baltimore, Oklahoma City all returning to the upper Midwest triad(Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin) after almost a decade of being away. I wondered why, there is not much there besides fields and memories. Like most of them, we too loved where we grew up but went off to college and then off to the city. I enjoy being a couple of miles away from the center of Houston, the games, the museums, concerts and constant things to do. I love that within a five mile radius I have two lowes, a HD and a small hardware store. I miss the summer storms, the 20mph "breeze" and the warmth of the Midwest people (southern people are friendly also, but they don't chant randomly in the store line :).

In mid July we too will join that migration. We'll be heading to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Jared starts at Rockwell Collins on Aug 1. We knew this day was coming. With the closure of the shuttle program in July and the cancellation of Constellation last year (the program in play to replace the shuttle) that Jared would probably become one of the thousands of aerospace causalities. With several layoff over the past year, he was blessed to make it to the end of the program.

The last month has been crazy, he had a standing offer at Rockwell Collins and also had another offer from a small comapny out at Goddard Space Center in Washington DC. We literrally had to make the decision over night. DC sounded amazing, the job was great... the cost of living there with three kids and the poor school system, put a damper on the excitement. We too decided that it was time to spend a few years home, let the kids get to know their grandparents and enjoy the storms.

We are sad to be leaving Texas, but after almost 18 months in limbo its nice to have something secured.