My wife and I have been carpooling to her new job in White House, Tennessee, about 20 minutes north of Nashville and a full hour away from Bellevue. The first 35 minutes or so we ride together, where she drops me off in Whites Creek. Aside from getting up a bit earlier than usual, the morning commute is not all that bad. The afternoon, however, puts her driving back through some rough traffic and me having to stay at work that extra 15 - 20 minutes past five. We stuck with it all last week (and will likely do the same next week), but it starts to wear on us after a while. The two hours on the road cuts into our already scarce time after work before heading to bed to be rested enough to do it all over again. Some folks may decide to just live with the circumstance, but it is not working well.
We picked Bellevue to open the door for opportunities on the south side of town, and to make the commute to and from Jackson for Samantha's capstone class a bit easier. The job market in the Franklin area is particularly strong, and simply moving closer to my job in the north would have cut her off from being able to effectively find work down there. It was a twist of fate that put us both north of the Cumberland.
So for that reason, we are about to break our second lease in six months. Both times, life circumstances beyond our control made it a necessity. In Martin, it was the painful realization that our plan to hang out in the college town six months or so past graduation while Samantha finished her degree was cut short by a projected budget that had us running our savings down to next to nothing in order to make it work. Trying to apply for jobs is particularly hard when you do not maintain a current address within 150 miles of the prospective employer.
Here, it is a bit more optimistic. We are looking for apartments in the Goodlettsville / Madison, Tenn. area to split the difference between our commutes. The job front has improved dramatically, with both of us working at jobs that we plan to stick with for quite some time. With our combined incomes, our budget should allow us to start thinking about more permanent solutions (i.e., not renting) sooner than later. But for now, the sake of our sanity dictates a change. It is a shame, too. We had just started getting all of the mailings we had been receiving at our prior addresses. Maybe this time we'll be able to stick with it.
In unrelated commentary, the Nashville Predators made perhaps their biggest trade in franchise history, acquiring Peter Forsberg. After watching them blank the Sharks 5-0 but then lose to the Blues 1-0, I was starting to wonder just how much weight to put into all of the Cup talk. Tonight's debut of "Peter the Great" against the Wild did not go so well, ending in a 4-1 loss. I am sure they will hit their stride toward the end of the month, but one thing that puzzled me was how often the words "Forsberg" and "Cup" were used in the interviews an commentary. I am a strong believer in the team philosophy of the game, believing that no one individual can get all done. Secondly, there is the other philosophy that says you do not start talk of the championship until the time comes. In either case, I predict that the Predators will shine when the glare of the spotlight finally turns off, much as they have through the franchise's history.
Now if they can just fill the arena enough to end all of this nasty talk about relocating.