The Move

I told myself the day would never come, but it has. I shouldn't be too surprised. I knew that having a baby would bring about a lot of changes, and it has.

When the idea of this particular move was told to us, we laughed. My mom and her husband told us that it would be the best thing for us, since they could help out with the babysitting for free. We said thanks for the offer, and that it would not be needed. I would continue working my normal shift, and Corinna would continue working graveyards. I would take care of the baby at night.

This was before August. Before Corinna returned to work after having Conner.

An earlier post was about me dealing with the pain of a constant headache. This headache was caused by the lack of sleep and stress I endured during this time. Neither of us got much sleep, and what should have been valuable time spent with our son was often spent trying to get him to go back to sleep.

Suddenly, the idea became attractive. Corinna brought up the fact that she had thought about it, and then I admitted to thinking about it too.

But there was a problem. I did not want to move back there!

We talked about it some more, and decided that it would be best if we looked into it further. We told my mom and her husband about it, and of course, they supported it.

Back in October, while down there during a visit from some of my family(they came up to meet Conner), we stopped at an apartment complex and decided to fill out an application. We were accepted, we chose a date, and began to plan.

The move to SALEM had begun.

Salem. Salem, Oregon.

And don't bring up that stupid joke about witch trials. That is a different Salem, and that joke was not funny the first time I heard it.

I first moved to Salem back in Sept. of 1995. I moved up from California. I lived in Salem until Dec. of 1999. I told myself I would never go back. Too many bad memories of what my life was like while living there.

This time, it should be a lot different. My life is a lot different than it was back then.

The place we picked is in a rather secluded part of Salem, which is nice. I have never lived in the Northeast section of town, and never would. I have always lived in the south or southeast parts, which are quiet.There are a ton of trees in the area, so when you walk outside, it looks like you are in the middle of a forest. It is very quiet at night. Even the people that live in this place don't make too much noise, which is a nice change considering the way things were in Vancouver.

I will miss living in Vancouver, but my reasons are stupid and there would be no point in talking about them. I mean seriously, does it matter that I will miss living near a nice new Target? Or that there was a Quiznos right around the corner? Two Blockbusters within minutes of my front door? The Portland area right across the river? An EBGames opening up near me? No, so I won't mention it.

The few neighbors we had that we actually spoke to were envious that we were leaving. The woman and her family next to us have lived there for 10 years, and want out badly. They seem to be really low income, and are stuck. The people on the end, I have no clue what their income is like, but they have three kids and are probably stuck also. The place was cheap. That was what kept us there for so long. We should have left a lot sooner though. I am just glad that we will not be raising Conner in that neighborhood.

Moving itself was a royal pain in the ass. For one, it is hard to get stuff done when you have a very inquisitive 7 month old crawling around. We also lived on the second story of the building, and moving a few things down those stairs was hell. I thought our TV would kill my mom's husband. Three of us carried it down. I never want to move that thing again. Vancouver is a little over an hour away from Salem, so moving back and forth was another part of the move that was hard to deal with. All that is left now is unpacking and get the ferrets adopted out. We have decided to find them a new home.