My friend Emily and I were talking on Tuesday this week when she said "Just think about where you were a year ago. Did you know you were moving to FL? I mean if someone said that you both [Cochran & I] were going to get jobs, move to FL, have this amazing year, and be pregnant with twins what would you say?" Immediately on the phone with her I pulled up the Calendar and realized this was the week I received the job offer in Clearwater (Friday, April 23, 2010). Then things moved really fast!
It's funny to me because neither Cochran or I remember how moving to FL was ever brought up. It happened sometime in August 2009. My hubby is the researcher in our family. He began to look at places to live in Florida and he felt we would really like the Tampa Bay area. Neither of us had ever visited here before. Labor Day weekend we decided to check it out. That's when we discovered Allegiant Air with the cheap, direct flight tickets. It was an adventure because for the first time we didn't have anything planned for our trip. We hadn't even booked a hotel yet. The ironic thing is the only apartment we visited and toured is where we are living now. He had already researched that as well. We came down here for several days and said we could definitely see ourselves living here.
When we arrived back home over the course of the next several weeks I guess you can say we second guessed ourselves. Cochran said that he felt like we were running away from something. What I didn't know. I more took it as "The grass isn't always greener on the other side." In my head there was the "What if's." "What if we hate living there...What if it's the wrong decision...." There is definitely a fear of the unknown. I accepted his decision for us. However, I did pray to God that if He wanted us to move that I needed my husband to be 100% positive it was the right decision for us. I knew if it was ever mentioned again and if we were ever to go through with it I didn't need there to be any doubt. So I continued to pray that if it was God's will for us to move I needed Cochran to be our backbone.
December 2010 came and I'm going about my day when I receive a text. Ok, ladies and gentleman, this cracks me up because first of all it had now been over two months of no Florida talk. Out of the blue, on a cold December day my hubby TEXTS me and says "I'm ready for us to move to Florida." Really? Well I didn't believe it. I'm thinking to myself, "It's cold and he's daydreaming about the beach and playing with my emotions." Haha! I didn't believe him that whole week we talked about it until finally he convinced me he was serious. I can say from that moment on my husband has never not for one moment waivered from that decision. Thru all the uncertainty he was always certain that we should move and this was the right decision for us.
Of course in order for us to move so many things had to fall in place. There were two big items on the list. First we had to sell our house. I refused to move without our home being sold. I did not want that weight on our shoulders. We lived on a cul de sac. There were already around 5-6 homes for sell and they were $10-$20,000 less than our home since they didn't have a fully finished basement. Most of these homes had been on the market for well over a year. I decided to call the realtor who sold the neighbor's home that was about three houses down. I didn't meet this neighbor because we were neighbors. Haha! I met her because I marketed to her and we realized we lived on the same street. I was able to see her and get the contact info for her realtor. Her & her husband had it on the market for over a year as a "for sale by owner" and this particular realtor had it sold within two months. Our goal was to sell our home by April 30, 2010. The new home buyer incentive was extended to this date so despite it being winter we felt that this would give us an edge. We placed our home on the market the week of Christmas. We had planned on not telling our families about any of this until well after the holidays, but I can't keep anything from my mom. I totally ruined Christmas and was Scroogette by mentioning "Oh and our house is for sell because we want to move to Florida." Bah Humbug!!!
All of January and February no one came. It was cold and February that year brought a lot of snow. At the end of February our realtor said there was man who wanted to view the property. He came on a Tuesday and wanted to view the property again on Saturday. Our realtor said she thought this was it; however his situation was unique. He was going thru a divorce and they shared a child. Due to the divorce agreement him and his wife had to find homes within so many miles of one another. We knew he liked our home but prayed she would find one suiting for her. On Monday we got our offer, but wait there was a curve ball. There was a contingency that they sold their home. Here's a housing market that is at it's slowest and we are in the mix of trying to sell 3 homes. Of course, we accepted; however we were not completely locked in since we could still show the home in case none of this happened.
Mid March my husband addresses our other big item on the list-Find Jobs. Again, he is the researcher of the family. Job searching feels like punishment to me. He is the one who came across Bouchard Insurance as a possible employer for me. They were voted 2009 Best Places to Work in the Tampa Bay Business Journal (how ironic yesterday I attended the 2011 luncheon and we won again this year!). I didn't have very much confidence but applied online. It wasn't long before the recruiter called me. Our first initial conversation could have not been any better. The timing was that of only God's timing. I had applied for a job that I wasn't completely qualified for. It was for group benefits. She began to discuss what my ideal position would be. I was completely honest with her and she disclosed that the gentleman who holds the position I was describing (Personal Lines Sales Executive-write personal lines insurance) was leaving soon and they hadn't even posted his position; however she felt that it would be a perfect fit for me. I was so excited. I soon discussed with Cochran that we needed to pick a few days to come down here so we could actually line up interviews. We decided April 12-April 15. Now we were actually able to start setting up job interviews and being more serious in our hunt.
I kept asking Cochran how we were going to go in the interviews completely confident when we had no idea how our house situation was going to play out. I was afraid that we might burn bridges with great potential employers. He remained very confident that it was all going to work out and that the house would sell. He was right!!! We found out at the beginning of April that our buyer's home had a contract. To top it off our closing was scheduled for April 30, 2011. To me that was so surreal because that was our goal and it was happening.
With one of our big items marked completed all of our focus went to getting jobs. We didn't want any job but wanted solid employers and positions. When we came to Florida we were all business and no play. We spent all day in our hotel room preparing for our interviews. Most of the employers respected we were only down here for a few days so after our initial interviews we got second interviews scheduled. We made known that we were closing on our home April 30 and not to rush the decision but we needed to know if we were moving our personal belongings in storage or to Florida.
I prayed for patience and someone then told me oh you shouldn't have done that, because God will teach you patience. After a week and half of waiting on April 23rd I finally got the job offer. One week before our closing!!! Cochran had completed 2 out of 3 of his interviews so we were confident once we moved and he scheduled the 3rd interview he would get the job and luckily he did!
Now that both of the 2 big items were completed we had a to do list of about 1,000 items...haha! In a week's time we sold his Navigator, bought an Altima, hired a moving company, finished our jobs, etc. and were on the road to Florida on the afternoon of May 3. We camped out in our apartment for five days on an air mattress. The moving company arrived on our first wedding anniversary, May 8.
I share this story because I want our babies to know how they came to be born in Florida and not Kentucky. Although they will be little Wildcats! I hope that in their lives they have faith that God will lead them and He will make the impossible possible. Since trusting in the Lord and making this move our lives have been even more blessed. I have an inner peace that I didn't have before. I don't struggle with worry or stress like I use to. God made all of this happen and I trust Him beyond measure. I feel Cochran and I have always had a strong connection; however I feel we have grown even closer. We no longer try to plan our lives out and can't say if we'll be here for the rest of our lives. However, we know God will guide us and whatever that may be we can't stand in the way of His plans. I know His plan is far better than any dream of mine. I also know that having twins down here away from family and friends is going to be difficult. However, I'm not going to allow fear to take away from my joy. I know there will be moments of tears and wanting Meme but Cochran & I are a team and we will get through it together. I have always found strength even through all of your kind words and support. If we reach a bridge and decide it's best to return home then we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Regardless, we have no regrets about moving to Florida. We said from day 1 that we would have regret if we didn't go for it. We didn't want to grow old and have that "What if." We've been here a year now and it's flown by. Almost in a blink of an eye. It's been an amazing journey so far and my heart is full of gratefullness.
This just makes me want to ask you Emily's question, "Where were you a year ago?" I can't imagine the story I'll have a year from now.
Have a blessed Easter!
The Cochrans
Matthew 7: 7-8 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
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