Seattle: discuss.

We're considering a cold restart in Seattle. Discuss.

DH is still unemployed, and there isn't anything exciting on the horizon. He's been flirting with a major depression for weeks, and I've been throwing out ideas in the hopes that he would latch onto one. (What if you started a business? What if we moved to LA, to be closer to your son? What if we moved in with your sister? Etc.) But nothing stuck, and so we found ourselves in this infuriating limbo; in a city that neither of us ever wanted to be in, just waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Finally I sat him down and said, "Look. Let's start from the worst case scenario, which is that you could be unemployed for another year. Or two. Hopefully not, but given that, where do you want to be? We can't sit here for the next year; you're miserable, I'm miserable commuting an hour each way to work, I'm snappy and stressed out, if we stay here we'll kill each other. So let's put some ideas on the table, debate the pros and cons, and see what floats to the top."

So we did. The logical starting point was to move to Boston, so I could be closer to my job. But neither of us particularly like New England, and while I like my job, it's not enough to hold two people here. Besides, if we're going to move, it might as well be to a place where we both could get work.

Eventually, Seattle floated to the top.

Pros: We could both get excellent jobs there. It's a great city. DH has lived there before and loved it, and still has friends in the area that could help us get settled. There's no income tax. There are great restaurants, nightlife, culture, wine, and it's within driving distance of many awesome national parks.

Cons: It's all the way across the country. I would miss the sun. Neither one of us has a job there yet.

Biggest pro: This is the first time I've seen a spark in his eyes since he became unemployed.

At this point, if the idea of yak farming in Mongolia put a spark in his eyes, I'd go be a yak farmer in Mongolia.

We're still working out the details. Most likely he'll drive our stuff partway across the country and spend a few weeks with his family in Missouri, while I stay behind and work through the holidays and sleep on friends' sofas. (Working through the holidays is always extremely lucrative in the service industry.) After the New Year, I'll visit my own family, we'll spend a few days together in Missouri, then leave our stuff in storage while we take one car load of stuff to Seattle. We'll stay with his friends while I find a job and an apartment; then, once we're settled, we'll make arrangements to get our stuff the rest of the way across the country.

If you can find any flaws in my logic, please, let me know. (I've already thought about: money, driving across the Rockies in January, driving a moving van across the Rockies in January, selling everything vs. a moving van, and how long it might take to find a job once we get there.) If you have any words of advice about Seattle in particular, please, let me know.

This is all still conjecture at this point, but given DH's level of enthusiasm, it's becoming more and more likely.