We're Moving! — Head Along With Heart

I turned in my resignation letter at my job yesterday. As someone who has worked a myriad of odd jobs throughout my life, this is something I have done so many times before...but this time it feels different.

I came into my current position knowing that I wasn’t in it for the long haul and that I wasn’t going to make a career for myself in Cobb County, Georgia, but this job has given me so much. This is the first time I’ve had an actual job with an actual salary and benefits. It gave me the freedom to travel and experience the world on my own, at my own pace, which led me to a deep love of national parks and public lands. It introduced me to Tyler, who somehow has the same intrepid spirit as myself and is a bonafide adventure partner. And in the end, it gave me the experience necessary to move on.

So when I hit “send” on my resignation email, I wasn’t thinking about all the things I hate about my job (although that list exists, too). It was everything I’ve gained since July, 2017. And it feels like so much. When I first started this blog, I knew I had an interest in national parks, but I had no idea it was going to turn into an obsession, and that this blog was going to turn into an outlet for that obsession, or that in a few short years I would be moving into a national park. In 2017, I went from a 9-5 job that gave me 5 days off a year (and no sick days) to shift work, where I learned the art of trading around shifts to allow time for big adventures. Along with a bad breakup and forcing myself to try solo travel for the first time, I unknowingly began to set myself on a trajectory leading to this moment, all the way back in 2017!

Let me tell you exactly how it happened:

In May of this year, which feels like years ago now, one of my coworkers approached me with his phone.

“I found the perfect job for you.”

This wasn’t totally unusual, except that last time he said this to me, it was a temporary position in Antarctica...so that’s what I was expecting again. He proceeded to show me a post on Reddit with a link to a job listing. The original poster had answered a bunch of questions in the comments, and the more he told me what he had learned on Reddit about this job, the better it sounded.

I went home that day, armed with the Reddit comments section, and pitched the idea to Tyler. It took almost no effort to convince him that this was a good idea….and the rest is history!

Well...kinda. If you’ve ever applied for a job with the federal government, then you understand how slow the hiring process is! When it’s all said and done, it will have taken us about 8 months to get from turning in a resume to our official start date at our new jobs.

Oh, and did I mention the best part?! We’re moving to the Grand Canyon!

Now that I’ve handed in my two weeks’ notice, I finally feel somewhat prepared to talk openly about this big news that I’ve been sitting on for MONTHS! I was too scared something would go wrong if I started talking about it in September, when we got a tentative employment offer, so I thought I’d be ready to tell the world when we had an official offer. But that day came and went a few weeks ago, and….it still didn’t feel like this was really happening.

But we’ve been on the phone with moving companies all week, preparing to sell Tyler’s house, upgrading my phone plan so I’ll actually have cell service in the woods (hello, Verizon), and then, of course, saying an official goodbye to our jobs here in Georgia--so it finally feels right to let out the not-so-secret secret.

I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am to have an opportunity to live in one of the most iconic national parks in the world. As I write this, though, my excitement is being juxtaposed by nostalgia for my home that I haven’t left yet, including my job that I still have for a few more shifts. I have a little bit of experience with this anxious feeling of walking into the unknown, and I’m riding the wave for about four more weeks until we are standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon, watching the sunset and freezing our asses off because it’s January in the high desert. I can’t wait.

I’m planning to keep you all updated on our progress over the next few weeks--including moving across the country in the height of a pandemic, which is not something I’m looking forward to. (If you have pandemic safety tips, I’m all ears). I’ll also be posting on Instagram, so you are welcome to follow along there for more in-the-moment updates!