Well, as you can see from the date of the "First Post", it has been quite sometime since I began this blog and I have slacked in keeping it up to date. This is something that I hope to remedy from here on out.
For those of you who don't know what has transpired over the last 2 years of my life, here is the shortest version I can muster: I got a new job working for the State of TN in the Department of Human Services where I was an Eligibility Counselor and helped those less fortunate than myself get on government assistance for food, child care, and Medicaid. This job was stressful at times but paid the bills and provided me with some job fulfillment, knowing that I was helping real people survive on a daily basis.
Michael got a job and moved to Florida in January 2009. We became engaged on April 11, 2009 when I was in Florida for his birthday. It was sweet, romantic, and wonderful. Then the fun really began. I put in notice at my job that I would be moving to Florida after I got married on September 26, 2009 at a wonderful sunset ceremony at our church in Knoxville, TN. This was indeed the best, most wonderful day of my life thus far.
I then began my period of transition in this life. From being a well-educated, professional, career driven, self-sufficient woman in her late 20s to being a housewife in a region of the country totally foreign to me with nothing to do more often than not. Culture shock indeed. Not just the adjustment to living in Florida instead of Tennessee, which was QUITE an adjustment in and of itself but also to the adjustment of the pace of my life. For most of my life, prior to becoming Mrs. Poole, I had always had so much to do. Not enough hours in the day to get them all done. Hang out with friends, play in local bands, write music, sing at church, spending time with my mother and grandmother...you know, the regular hustle and bustle one's life becomes when you live in the same city for almost a decade. I loved Knoxville and had become comfortable there. Here in Venice, Florida, a town more known for sharks' teeth and geriatrics than the hustle and bustle of city life, I had become unknown. Invisible to anyone and everyone around me, except Michael and his wonderful family, who we were fortunate enough to be located near.
So here I am. In dilemma. I have tried to occupy myself with participating in local theatre but to be honest, as much as it was creatively stimulating, it was just as much taking away from my marriage because I was never seeing Michael due to rehearsals and performances being in the evenings. This is not something I wish to continue to do for free. If nothing else, this life has taught me that my time is valuable. Very valuable. To me and to Michael, and I expect to be compensated well if I am spending time somewhere other than the "home" we created by our marriage. That may sound shallow for some, but it's truly how I feel these days.
We decided to buy a house in the North Port/Port Charlotte area here in Florida. Mostly, we have discovered that renting someone else's house can be more trouble than it's worth when you could just take care of things yourself. Unfortunately for us, the house is a short sale home and that means we could be waiting a while before we are able to move into this beautiful property that we can't wait to live in. So in the meantime, we are moving out of our rental house and into Michael's parents new home in Punta Gorda, about 30 minutes south of Venice. My in-laws are truly wonderful for letting us do this temporarily and I am happy that they are getting so excited about us coming to stay with them.
