Sunday, November 21, 2010

home owner

So I guess the time has come to officially change the profile here on ExpatNomad.com, time to take out the references to being a wandering fool and searching for the best burrito. It turns out that I have found my home and it is in New Mexico. And based on some facts that are observable in my life, it appears as though the nomad is no more.

Since starting my job at the Bosque School, I have found myself increasingly more and more happy. I found a school that I love where the kids are great, the community is small and interactive, and my superiors trust me to be a good teacher and don't check up on me in the slightest (it doesn't hurt that my classroom is on the outermost edge of school either). I am coaching volleyball and working with the girls makes me happy. The teachers with whom I work with are a good bunch and that makes me happy. The campus is beautiful and it makes me happy. What else to say, my career is work but it ... makes me happy!

My personal life has also made a change for the better. Married life is a challenge and while my wife does have her fair share of difficult moments, she is a part of my life that brings joy to me. She will be the mother of our children someday and while I do occasionally worry about what she will teach them (she has some unusual perspectives on things), I know she will be a great mother and do her best when it comes to raising our children. And before people get all caught up in that last sentence thinking that I won't be around to help out, y'all know better than that and know that I'll be around as much as possible as my child(ren) grow up. But kids are a future thing and we have to conceive one first and then I'll worry about how to raise them.

One item in my life that is recently changed is the fact that I am now, for the first time, a home owner. The getting married thing was grown-up but a lot of people still get married too young. Home ownership, that's something truly "responsible" and it signifies quite a bit for me. First off, no more wandering. Ya just can't walk away from a mortgage (unlike the last people who lived in this house) and travel the world. For the last 35 years or so of my life, I have been a nomad and seeing the parts of our globe that others may miss. I am extremely grateful for those experiences and wouldn't trade them for anything. But now I have the responsibility of a mortgage and after we have a child, all of the other bills are set on my shoulders. Nothing like putting the weight of reality on me but I think I'm finally at a point in my life where I'm ready for that challenge. Perhaps the wanderlust of the last 3 1/2 decades has led me to here and now my brain is ready to accept the responsibility that my peers have endured for quite some time. Ahh, always the late bloomer I guess.

Our home is awesome although moving in is going to take some time. The majority of our stuff is in the house, we just have to sort it all out now. The space for children is available and the process of starting a family has begun (just waitin' on some fertilized eggs to go!). The last year has been chock full o' changes but that's just fine with me. Here's to the next 40 years being as good as the first 40 were!