kind of like the week before the first day of school.

Dad and his friend "Bronco" the pelican.

Kristin gave her boss her notice today. What notice? The “It’s been wild, but I am never going to come back to work” notice. Oh man. It is really happening.

Today I talked to my new boss on the phone about my schedule starting Feb 1^st.

Last night I bought a one way plane ticket from Salt Lake to San Diego. I am going to drive one of the cars up, all by myself, on the 19^th, then fly back home, work a couple days, pack up the fam, and drive the other car up on the 28^th. Up where? To the Salt Lake Valley, that’s where. We are moving. It is official.

Holy crap… It is still kind of not real. Today I brought a couple of boxes home from work to kind of pack some of the things that were left behind from the adventure in October. I never thought I would ever go back. I really didn’t. I still kind of doubt, mentally, that it is going to happen.

So, here is the rough outline for the next book in the saga of my life. (San Diego was more of a book than a chapter for me, and I believe that this next adventure will be even wordier than the last five years.)

My family and I are going to move to Sandy. I am going to transfer to a Starbucks in Taylorsville for the time being, as well as hunt for a more “career style” job in Salt Lake. I will start attending SLCC in a year (after I can qualify for the resident fee schedule as opposed to the non-resident) to bolster my transcripts. When I have met the requirement for a transfer degree in my major, I will transfer to the University of Utah. I am going to get a Bachelor’s degree in sociology… that is the plan, but it is open to change… I acknowledge that I changed my major 3 times officially and about 10 times unofficially before getting my two year degree… I am aiming for a career in something along the lines of Probation officer or rehab counselor… I am not sure yet. I do know that as I get back into school, many of the opportunities that I was never aware of will become known to me, and that will assist me in my educational goals. I do not plan on wasting as much time figuring things out as I did initially at Grossmont, however.

I am going to be an awesome dad. I am going to see Clover grow close to Kristin and I, as well as her aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents. It is very possible that I will even see my family grow in size before I finish with school. I am going to be a presence in my daughter’s life. I acknowledge that although I have many plans for my own life, it is imperative that I make time for my family. It is not just my wife and I anymore, and I refuse to consider family time as having lunch with my daughter on my 30 minute lunch break or in between classes. That will not be okay with me.

I look forward to reconnecting with some of the people from my past before it became a past that I have had to learn not to regret. I also look forward to watching the families of my brothers and sisters grow.

I appreciate how much I have grown over the last however many years it has taken me to be where I am now. I appreciate how much I have changed, positively in my mind, over the last however many years. I am sure that I will appear different on the outside to those who have not seen me in some years, and not just because of the way I have cut my hair.

I don’t know where else to go with this… I will now open up the floor… questions anyone?