We begin in the middle of a small meltdown. I had intended to start with something more meaningful — a post to set the tone of this blog forevermore — but, after procrastinating for several weeks in hopes that inspiration will strike, I have decided that if I don’t just get on with it, this blog will never begin at all. And so, here we are, opening on a day when I am stressed and panicking and the future appears as a dark, grey fog. Thinking about it, perhaps today sets the right tone after all.
The cause of the meltdown is that I simply don’t know what is going to happen to us in the next six months — all our plans seem to be coming to pieces in our hands — and, suddenly, we have been given a firm deadline. My husband was granted an immigrant visa to the United States last week, which gives us six months to move our entire lives to the other side of the world. At the same time, our research has begun to indicate that the salary he could make there is significantly lower that what we’d understood it to be. Within the last few days, this move we’ve been planning for and counting on for months has suddenly become unworkable. And yet, I don’t know if it’s viable for us to stay in the UK either — we are barely covering our costs from month to month, and only managing to do that by slowing running my redundancy money down. It feels, today, as if the sturdy floor beneath my feet has disappeared and I am falling into I don’t know where. I feel very small, and everything else feels very, very big.
I’m certain there is a way for this work, but it is hard to see it when you are hiding behind your own hands.
Stumble it!
I can see how that would make you anxious! If it makes you feel better, academics make a mediocre salary (say, comparable to a high school teacher–maybe less!) and we do OK. It depends on the cost of living where you’re going though. You will still be able to have a bigger house than you could in the UK, and the mortgage interest tax deduction will help! Running a car will be significantly cheaper. Your income tax will be lower and you will get some child tax credits. Going out to eat should be affordable. Of course, if he is only going to make $30,000 and you’re moving to Los Angeles, that could be a problem. But I’ve been surprised on how we’ve made it these last few years on relatively little money. AND, I believe both you and I are planning to return to work at some point, even if only PT, so these tight years are temporary.