The move....six months in....

Six months into the great relocation experiment….and all is well.


Yesterday I got to see my grandson walk, with the aid of furniture, for about five minutes. It would be like watching paint dry for most folk…..but for me….it was a thrill. I would have been forced to watch a video of it, had we not made the move back to Illinois. He would have known me as some interesting image on a Skype feed. I wouldn’t get to hug him…..or move his hair out of his eyes. Hair is a big thing to me----and Dreiths in general.

Six months in….and we have come to some conclusions about our move to Murphysboro, Illinois after five wonderful years in West Texas.

-We love our house. Carol was forced to pick a house in a few days when she was sent ahead in June. She did a remarkable job. We feel we are on vacation every day. The house is beautiful, functional and has a view of a lake and plentiful wildlife. It is a joy to live in this house.

-Murphysboro has been a wonderful combination of Bethalto and Fairfield----our two hometowns. It is as big as Bethalto but has a very small town feel similar to Fairfield. We love the church. In fact we joined the Murphysboro United Methodist Church last week. It is a beautifully restored 100+ year old facility led by a very talented minister. We have tasted the culture of the community by attending the annual Apple Festival and the General Logan Ball, where we dressed in civil war garb and danced the night away.

-Carol and I have both adapted to our new jobs. She made the change of caring for babies….to caring for elderly patients. She likes the people at her facility…..one facility….in nearby Herrin. I worried greatly about the 300 miles/a day she traveled in the last year in Texas. It was tough on her.

I have many challenges in my new job. It is vastly different than my time at the helm of Frontier Community College and WTC. But I am blessed with quality, talented co-workers. They love the college and have been very accepting of my style of leadership. I look forward to work each day. But I have to admit----I deeply miss the people of Western Texas College. They treated me with a kind of respect that is hard to replicate. I always smile when I think of WTC, its people….and the five years we were in Snyder. Carol feels the same about this matter. We thank God for the opportunity to be Texans….even for a brief time.

-Family has taken center stage for us. We are about 100 minutes for either family home. It has allowed us to keep tabs on our parents, see our children and grandchildren and renew old acquaintances. This weekend drove home the point when Carol’s 94-year-old grandfather passed away. We will soon head to Fairfield for the wake and services. If we had been in Texas, this event would have been difficult to attend. Now it is just a trip up the road.

Six months in….this feels right.

We have always had each other since first meeting back in Fairfield in 2005. We still have each other….but we also have so much more in Southern Illinois.

Be happy for us.