Help!! Jeff and I are second-guessing ourselves. We’re wondering if moving is the right thing to do. Jeff is leaning towards staying in Bloomington. I’m still smack in the middle. The pull of my friends and family in Arizona is very, very strong, as well as the probability of a better job market for Jeff. On the other hand, we love the weather and environment here, and we have great friends locally, and in all fairness, Jeff hasn’t tried to get a job here since Jasmine left. Moving is expensive.

We wrote up a list of pros and cons for both moves. I know I have family and friends who are biased one way or the other in regards to where we live who read this. I don’t care — I want to hear what you think. I’ve included the list below and ask you to leave me comments with things you think we should consider in making this decision. In the meantime, Jeff is going to check out State Farm on Monday and see what might be available. He’s also checking the Pantagraph. I keep saying the job market is better in Arizona, but the reality is, I don’t know that for sure. And I do know that the cost of living is higher there, albeit only about 6%.

Pros for Bloomington

weather & environment
Prairie Fire Coven
close to a Reclaiming community
good place to raise kids
older houses
Gab wouldn’t have to change schools

Cons for Bloomington

conservative
hard to find jobs (?)
far from family

Pros for Mesa

closer to West Coast family & friends
more jobs
Western lifestyle
starting a new Reclaiming Community
store would have better chance for success
less maintenance on a newer house

Cons for Mesa

weather & environment
more crime
higher cost of living
costs money to move
hassle of moving

When we made the decision to go back in January, it was largely because we wanted Jasmine to be closer to a hospital. That factor has changed, obviously. Since then, we’ve stuck with the decision because we wanted to be closer to family in the wake of Jasmine’s death. We have not really checked the job market for Jeff since we came home in January because we had already decided to move. Now we’re questioning the decision for some of the reasons I listed above — the expense of a move, the weather in Arizona and just generally wondering if a move is the right thing for us right now.

Of course we know the decision is ultimately ours, and we are talking about it daily, but we would love to hear from our friends and family, even with biases!