I did a little counting this morning. If everything is right, this is the 22nd move I’ve made since I graduated High School 25 years ago. I guess the term restless could be used to describe me.

Looking back a large number of my moves were back in my college years bouncing between places either between semesters or due to less than reliable roommates. A few of them were related to bad relationship choices and the last significant category would be work-related.

This move is different.

All my previous moves could be defined by their trigger event:

• Changing schools or job
• Relationship breakdowns
• Roommates failing to pay the rent

This move is the only one I’ve planned for any length of time longer than about a week or two. We’ve been planning this move for the better part of two years.

Back in the summer of 2017, we were a little over a year into our two-year lease. Sitting at the table one night, we started having a serious conversation about what to do next and came to the conclusion; it was time to buy a house and put down roots. We took a look at the bank accounts and realized that was going to be a difficult task.

Then two life altering events occured within just a few weeks of each other, in order:

1. I was laid off
2. We hired a financial advisor

Layoff Disclaimer: The layoff came as a complete surprise. I and 48 other employees came into work one morning to an Email saying we were no longer needed and ushered to the door. The layoff lasted about 5 hours. A manager from a previous employer reached out to me that same day and I was able to restart right where I had left off with the added bonus that I could work from home due to now living 100+ miles from the office. I’m very fortunate, lucky, and grateful. The layoff though was a much-needed dose of reality that we were not in a position to survive if this were to happen again.

The bank accounts were another dose of reality. While we were able to make ends meet, we weren’t saving anything. We needed to organize our finances, figure out how to consolidate our debts, and put us on a target to actually buy a house. So we did the most middle class white American thing we could think of and hired a financial advisor. Tom was able to put together a plan that would work, only if we were to agree to stay where we were for one more year.

The only next biggest question was where do we go next. Continued in pt 2.