If It's Not One Thing, It's Certainly Another

I thought I would take some time tonight to actually sit down and type out my thoughts on job and house-hunting. Alan and I have to move back to our hometown-area by the end of summer 2009. He's hoping to have a new job secured by the end of October (2008). This means that as soon as we're back from our honeymoon, the dreaded job of house-hunting begins! Now, being the anal type-A personality that I am, I have already contacted our realtor and asked him to pull up prospects in the desired areas. I was just trying to plan ahead, right? You would think that that would be a good thing, right? Au, contrare..... because now not only am I scrambling to finish last minute wedding projects, I am also trying to field all sorts of questions and issues that have come up with Marissa's father (because he would like nothing better than to determine where I will live for the rest of my life), worry about which town we should ultimately live in and which school system the kids should be enrolled in, and try to keep my focus on the wedding without the cute little houses that are on the market NOW weasling their way into my thoughts. ugh. I suppose I should have let the house-hunting wait until after our return from Boston.

But the house-hunting issue brings up another issue, one that is much bigger. Our ideal location would be a city with the best school district in the area. However, in order to live in said city and be able to afford the property taxes there, I would have to give serious consideration to selling my plasma on a monthly basis. :P All kidding aside, Alan and I now are faced with the choices of either 1) living in our ideal school district and trying to absorb the financial costs or 2) living in another school district that Marissa's father does not approve of and then trying to absorb the emotional risks of having our children enrolled in separate school districts. (Marissa in one, Jake + future children in another.)

This decision may be a no-brainer for some, but it's a very difficult one for us - the school district that is another option for us would be in a private school system. The kids would get an excellent education, but getting Marissa's father to see past the "religion issue" is about next to impossible. How do we make a decision that will have a definite impact our family's future and our children's lives? I just pray that we make the right one.....