Purge

Our lives are in motion! It's rather exhilarating.

Sudden changes. The doctor suggesting Rocket take off from work several weeks sooner than planned. The term rapidly coming to an end for me.

Last night, Rocket & I had a date (perhaps the last for a while, as you shall learn). It was her birthday. We went to a nice tapas bar. The same one we visited last April. I thought it a fitting location to celebrate as some of our life plans, ones that we discussed in embryo last time we visited that restaurant, were taking form (even if more rapidly than we had expected).

Before dinner, we stopped by my office to look over our finances, and run some calculations. One thing that Rocket discovered this week was that her disability/family leave pay will be a bit less than we had been anticipating. So, we ran some figures.

One of the results of these calculations (and a re-dedication to our family priorities) was that we've decided not to extend our arrangement with D. That will save us about $6500 over the next few months. She'll be looking for a new family, and will likely leave us sometime this month. Circumstances have changed dramatically from last summer when D came to join us. We had expected that Rocket would be working through the end of January. And we expected that I would remain at Lemon until the summer. Likely we'll still have her help for the next few weeks (at least long enough to get me through finals). If not, hey, I'll take the boys with me to campus. It may sound odd, but I'm actually quite pleased with these changes. We're driving. We're in charge. We're setting our priorities, and sticking to them.

We'll both be off of work in the next few weeks, lower income, but more time to spend with our boys. Some unexpected changes, but this is a calculated and measured move. We know what we have in the bank. We know our current spending habits. We know where we can cut costs. Truth is, we can sustain ourselves easily for a year to two (even were we to remain here), but more likely we've got a good three years of expenses covered (assuming the cost of living where we're planning to move). I have no intention to come close to that red line. But it's good to know it's far off.

One thing we realized in the midst of this, is that there's really little keeping us here through June or July (as we had been thinking). In fact, the only real issue is the Painter's kindergarten which won't end until mid-June. But that alone is not enough to keep us put an extra few months.

The plan now is we stick around through #3's birth (we've actually picked out a name, but we're keeping it under wraps for now... we may change our minds), and a month or so for mother and baby's recovery. But that brings us to possibly moving around the end of March or April. The sooner we leave, the sooner we reduce our living expenses.

We are, as it were, free! The only obligation we retain is the remaining $40,000 balance on our student loans, which if we chose, we could pay off. For now, it seems wiser to continue the ~$450 monthly payment, and keep the cash in savings (just in case). We own our vehicles. We have no mortgage. And we're on the verge of tying up all loose ends. Life is in our hands.

For now, we wait to hear from Miwla College. Either way, we're priming for our move, whether near Miwla or elsewhere in that rhomboid.

As I reminded Rocket, a bit more timid and apprehensive about these changes than I: This is something I'm really good at, something I thrive with. Reinvention. We're good.