Brent's final spring break. . .

. . has been really nice. No cruise this year. But we also didn't have to work on the house all week like the first two spring breaks in dental school. It feels so good to have it all done. I can barely remember now how bad it was. Now if only we can get the thing sold.

I cleaned it really well and we took off last Saturday, packed for a road trip in the Buick. I was so excited to clean the house and walk away. It is brutal trying to make a house of seven looked unlived in multiple times a week. We took along the only three that are interested in Buick road trips. These kids were actually excited about our 2100 mile road trip.





I brought along a ball of yarn and they made fruit loop necklaces until they were out, then played go fish with the yarn over the front seat for snacks or other random items to keep them entertained. I thought of that idea myself halfway through Tennessee. It makes the candy last a lot longer.

We visited four seperate practices from here to Georgia and spent countless hours more stopping off at other locations that looked interesting enough to consider living in for the next 25 years or so.



Everytime we passed a McDonald's we pulled off the freeway and borrowed their internet. It was a little too much for the kids to take when they were getting by on fruit loops in the back seat so once in a while we bought them an ice cream cone.





This beautiful lake is near Morristown, Tn and the LDS church sits on a hill above the lake with affordable beautiful homes all round it. It was tempting enough to spend about 12 hours there exploring the possibilties.

The reality that we are going to purchase a practice AND put down permanent roots somewhere is really setting in. A few months ago it was just talk and I was excited but now I sometimes break down and cry about it. It is looking like we will be far from home.

Four years away was no big deal. Buffalo was easy to like because it was short term. Now we are talking about our future. I keep being haunted by something that my sister in law said after they settled in Texas after law school. They had loved being on their own all through law school on the other side of the country. But now that they were in the real world it just didn't feel right. They lasted a couple years then quit his high paying job and moved back to Washington. And they are very happy. So hopefully this doesn't happen to us because we will be significantly more STUCK in our situation. It's not just about quitting and taking another bar when you buy a dental practice.

But then I am also so excited to do something big like this. We are going to be pioneers just like our parents, settling a new land for our family. And it is really fun shopping. Everyone keeps asking us our plans and acting like we need to decide right now. Brent's yearbook staff has emailed him repeatedly to please notify them of his after graduation plans. He finally sent them an email that read, "Private Practice. Continental US".

So that is where we are at, about 7 weeks before graduation. Getting closer, but nervous and still not convinced 100% that we have found "the ONE" yet. I keep reminding myself that no place is perfect. Not even Sola Saloo, on the banks of the beautiful river Wahoo.

I have looked at so many towns that sound like paradise on line. And they do look so pretty driving by. But once you pull off the freeway and get down in them you find out all they are is just a town. Nothing feels like heaven on earth. They still have their slums and garbage areas.

So my point is I am realizing that really we just need to pick a place and make the best of it. Happiness is going to come from within our house. Not from without.