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Moving to the Caribbean: Bon Voyage

  August 8

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Dear Bloggy Friends,

Tomorrow I leave my house at 3:00 A.M. and make my way to the airport to initiate the move to Grenada in the Caribbean. {If you’re new to the blog, my husband is an M.P.H./M.D. student down there, and we’ll be living there for 2.5 years}.

I hope y’all understand that I will be taking this week off from blogging, which I’ve never done before!

I’m hoping to update you with a picture or two when I get there, but won’t have the well thought out posts I love to provide. I am also not having a Budget Buddy this week, but that will resume with a really wonderful blogger next week.

Keep your fingers crossed that the internet is up and running when I arrive at my apartment in the Caribbean, and that I don’t have too many withdrawals from my blog friends. I’m already dreading turning in my smart phone today so that I don’t have to pay for the data plan when I’m gone.

As far as this blog being a diary of sorts, I will say that I’m going through a lot of emotions right now. If I’m being honest, I’m actually having two emotions: stress and sadness. I forgot what it was like to have family around. I just moved home to Louisiana this summer after being in Virginia for four years. I forgot what it was like to have a pile of siblings to eat out with. I forgot how nice it was to see my mom every day, shop with her, and get my nails done with her. I forgot what it was like to sit around a big table with 8 people and say grace and have dinner. And frankly, I don’t really want to leave.

Poor me, poor me – I have to move to the Caribbean! Feel sorry for me! I’m kidding. I know I sound crazy, and it’s because I feel crazy right now. This past week there have been more tears and more arguments with The Hubs than I can possibly count. We are both stressed, we are both packing up our lives, and we are both individually having a lot of turmoil.

A part of me is intrigued and excited and interested in living in Grenada. A part of me worried. A part of me is feeling a hell of a lot of pressure to provide and be a good wife and have meals ready each evening. This pressure comes from no where but myself. My mom keeps telling me to go relax and chill out. But, it’s so inherent in my nature to be a perfectionist. The Type A personality runs deep. I am still the kid who came home from Pre-K and made up homework for myself and then did it and turned it in to my dad. And, if my experience in Grenada were graded as I was for the past 20 years I was in school, I’d like to get A. I want The Hubs to look back and say I was a great wife during that time. I want him to say I wasn’t needy or attention seeking and he always had the support he needed.

When I pray, I say, “Please God help me remember that The Hubs is under a lot of pressure too. He has to make good grades. He has to pass. He has to become a doctor. Our future relies on him too, and everything I do to support him only makes his job easier. I implore myself to remember this and ask for some reminders every now & then but hopefully not in the form of a lightning bolt, please God. Thank you, Amen.”

And now, if you’ve read this far, dear bloggy friends, let me say thanks. Thank you for the support when I announced I left my job & would be moving to Grenada. Thanks for saying my apartment in Grenada looks super cute, even though we both know it’s insanely small and are wondering how-the-heck-am-I-going-to-make-it-look-nice-without-Target. Thanks for your thoughts and your encouragement and tweets. And thanks for not thinking I’m crazy permanently – only this week, right?

We would appreciate any good thoughts our way as we travel tomorrow with our dog. We have a long way to go with a pooch in tow and a ton of luggage, mostly due to my insistence that I bring my sewing machine, crafts, and IKEA curtains. 🙂

I will be back as soon as I can with an update. Until then, you can check out my guest post on Wednesday on Blonde Undercover Blonde, which is a part of our Blonde Block Party series!

Ok I think that’s it! Wish me luck!
xoxo,
Cat

11 responses to “Moving to the Caribbean: Bon Voyage

  1. AH I can SO understand where you’re coming from! We moved three times in three years and it is definitely a test of your relationship. But just think — a couple weeks from now, you’ll be MOVED in and this will all be behind you. It will take some adjustment to be away from family, but for the rest of your life, you’ll remember this time when you and your hubs were young and living in the Caribbean and had nothing to tie you down. What a huge blessing!

    If you get dinner on the table regularly and are a *perfect* wife, that’ll be great – and if so, please give me lessons – but think of this as a time to learn and grow and settle in to your role now that you guys will be finally together! Yay! It’ll be AWESOME and fun but like anything good, there will be some adjusting. Give yourself room for that, you know?

    I can’t wait to hear what you think of it! You’ll be missed while you’re gone for this next week!

  2. So much love to you, Cat. As I begin to pack for my move to Seattle, I can safely say I totally understand where the crazy comes from. 🙂 But you will do wonderfully and J knows how much you love him and I know he loves you. Once you get there you know you’ll be so happy not to have to do long-distance again. Love love love, and you can always call/e-mail me if you need anything at all. I can even care package Target goods to you, if need be (though coming from Seattle they might take awhile to arrive).

  3. Have a safe trip! I so understand about adjusting to being away from family, but I’ll just say DITTO to everything that Kelly said…I couldn’t have said it better! 🙂

  4. You can do this! Can’t wait to hear all about it. And perfetion? Over-rated for sure. Just be yourself and be open to the experience. xo

  5. Sending good thoughts and prayers your way! I’m sure you’ll have so much fun settling in and making a new life there, and all of us will get a huge kick out of reading about it!

  6. Found you through BUB link up. How cool- I’m excited to follow along in your adventures. Have you met fellow island/medical blogger “From our Front Porch”? She is a teacher/wife in Saba
    http://fromourfrontporch.com and links to several other similar bloggers. GL!

  7. Found you from Blonde Undercover Blonde. I live (sort of) nearby your new home on the island of St. Martin while my boyfriend goes to med. school here. You’re going to love Caribbean living! Good luck with all your new adventures!

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