So, this is my last weekend at home before I have to take the job in SD!

[liberalhistorian]

WOW! I just heard from the legal services agency in Rapid City, SD, that hired me that they want me there for training beginning June 1. Since it'll take three days to drive out there, I'll need to leave next weekend. The training will actually be at their main office on an Indian reservation in the middle of the state, where I'll assume I'll have to stay during the training.

I have NEVER done this before, gone this far from home, (1,500 miles)away from all friends, family, and everything that's familiar to me in the 32 years I've lived in this area. I even have to leave my son behind with my parents for several months, too, that is going to be SOOO hard. I've never even driven that far by myself, before. And now I've got five hundred million things to do between now and next weekend.

WOW again! I still can't believe this is actually, really happening. I've always wanted a job out there near the Black Hills, but there's a big difference between wanting something in the abstract and actually experiencing it. I'm excited, but I'm also terrified, as you can imagine. I won't have computer access for awhile, either, until I figure out where and how to get a cheap laptop, since I have to leave the computer behind for my son and parents.

[MnFats]

1. some beautiful countryside in western s.d. but

a lot of flat nothing for quite a distance around there.
have a great experience!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Congratulations to you.

Oh, how I envy you.

I do hope that the project I am involved with, a revolutionary chronic wound care product, gets FDA approval soon. Then I can enjoy some of what you got.

Lord, I need it.

[liberalhistorian]

3. I hope it works

out for you, too! I'll send some good thoughts and vibes your way. Believe me, I've envied enough people in my life for it to finally be my turn. I'm still scared shitless, though, lol.

[Red_Viking]

4. Congratulations!

Good luck on your new adventure. I think you'll enjoy it, once the shock wears off!

Last summer, I moved from Texas to Oregon to attend law school. I'm a born and bred Austinite, and never lived anywhere else. I figured at 38 it was time for me to experience a new place. So, the SO and I (he's a student, too) packed up our stuff, my teenage daughter, the pets, and moved 2000 miles away. It was really hard at first, but once we made some friends at school, things got much better. I've been a little homesick, but not too bad. I love the Pacific Northwest, and like you, this is someplace I've always wanted to be.

I predict goodness for you! Enjoy your adventure!

Be safe--

Peace,

RV

[liberalhistorian]

9. So, I'm only a couple of years older than you

when you made that move. Except I'm doing this alone, I don't have an SO and my teenage son will be staying with my parents for awhile. Then again, hopefully, they'll keep me so busy I won't have time to be homesick. And I am more than familiar with the area, having vacationed there all my life. We do have family friends, a couple who retired to that area, there, so I guess I won't be totally alone. Being on the Indian reservation, though, will be interesting but a totally different world than what I'm used to, I'm sure.

[BlueJazz]

5. I wish you all the very best and hope your journey is a safe one.

I loved the Black Hills when I was there.
..Although I almost wound up in jail.
(I used to climb mountains in California and when I went to Mount Rushmore I thought it would be cool to climb up Rushmore to see the Presidents real close...ah.....The Park Rangers didn't think it was cool at all!)

[liberalhistorian]

10. Whoa! You actually tried to climb

Rushmore? LOL, no, I imagine the Park Rangers didn't like that at all.

[chaska]

6. It will be rough until you actually leave. You will be stressed, but...

You will start to feel better once you are actually on the road.

Good luck. Leaving is tough, I know.

[Lannes]

8. You also may have second thoughts

After you get there but try to stick it out until you have had time to settle in.Also,try to find friends outside of work and dont date co-workers.

[liberalhistorian]

15. Oh, there's no question that

I'm scared shitless, as excited as I am. I may be forty years old, but I've never done anything like this before; I've never gone this far away from home, friends, family, and everything that's familiar to me before. I freely admit that, as excited and thrilled as I am, there's a part of me that wishes I hadn't been offered the job (and I honestly didn't think I would be, I thought I sucked at the interview because I was so nervous, and I thought they'd hire a local or native american candidate), and that everything was just going to keep going on here like normal and I could continue to keep trying to build my business. I know that's normal, but it's hard to push through those feelings.

And that's just the thing, I've never managed to really push through those type of feelings when I had the chance to do something new, I've always stayed in my "comfort zone", so to speak. I've never really, truly challenged myself. And it's time I do just that. It's time I DID push through the fear of getting out of the comfort zone, and really push and challenge myself, as frightening and lonely as it will sometimes be. It would probably be easier if I were married or had an SO that was going with me, but I'll have to deal with the fact that I'm doing it alone. Totally alone at first, since my son will be staying behind with my parents for several months, possibly through the next school year.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. Everything I've ever done that was worth doing, from

going to Japan to embarking on a serious relationship for the first time to going free-lance scared me silly. I've some to think of fear as almost a GOOD sign.

Best of luck, and wave at us Minnesota DUers as you pass through, presumably on I-90.

[liberalhistorian]

13. I LOVE Minnesota,

I rode through nearly the entire state when I took the bus to Rapid City and back for my interview last week. I got to spend Sunday afternoon on the streets of downtown Minneapolis, since there was a six-hour layover before the Minneapolis-to-Chicago bus left. Great city! I ate at the TGI Friday's right in downtown, by the theater district, which is near where the bus station was. If only downtown Cleveland could be anywhere near like that. The only thing I would hate about being a Minnesotan would be having that fuckhead grave-dancing weasel Coleman as a senator.

[progmom]

11. Best of luck...

On this exciting new chapter of your life!!!!

[Longgrain]

12. Well good luck then, and be sure to keep in touch

Ya hear?:thumbsup:

[liberalhistorian]

14. Oh, definitely, LG!

The only problem will be finding a computer. I have to leave ours here at home for my son and my parents, and I can't afford a laptop right now.