Hi all,
Apologies if this isn't the right place for this post. I'll start by acknowledging that I know there's probably still plenty of time to start a family, but I am really struggling to reconcile desperately wanting to start a family, our desire to relocate back to the Pittsburgh area, and moving forward in my career path. I am a teacher and we relocated 5 years ago so that I could get the necessary teaching experience to secure a job back home (the teaching market is pretty saturated and honestly there are less than a dozen jobs posted in Western PA per year for my certification area). I've been aggressive about applying and have made it to several second and third-round interviews,, but alas, here we are five years later still waiting for the right opportunity to settle down and start our lives as a family.
Though we've discussed settling for what we have and staying here to start our family (I do love my school and actually quite a few of my family members have also relocated South and live pretty close), every time we visit "home" we seriously regret ever moving to Florida (mainly due to lack of connection to community here, high cost of housing, and the climate). We are both on the same page about wanting to move, but since it's always been my job that keeps us here, I am really starting to feel guilty and feel more pressure to consider alternatives. It breaks my heart to think about leaving teaching. I love my students and I take such pride in my classroom, but it's starting to feel like such a heavy sacrifice and our patience is really running out. As my husband's 30th birthday looms closer, the question about when we just stop waiting and just make a drastic change to move forward is now a nightly discussion and it's killing me. I am having such a hard time coming to terms with the fact that the pieces just aren't all falling into place like I hoped they would (I know, it's life, but it's hard to accept!)
I'm not sure what I'm even looking for here... the wisdom to make the "right" choice I suppose. Anyone have a crystal ball? ;-)
High School Teacher * Reluctant Floridian * Steelers Fan
Family info in Spoiler
Married 6/2013
DS 11/2017
MMC 10/2019 @ 12 weeks
Planning to try for our rainbow 01/2020
Re: Waiting... waiting... waiting some more....
If you're looking for support, there's a board for other ladies trying to get pregnant and I believe they even have a thread for people that are still benched for one reason or another. You can learn a lot from them. I hope that's the pep talk you needed. Good luck!
Snowflake, I check PA-educator and the pghedujobs blog as well as 8-10 different district employment pages pretty regularly, but it's still slim pickings. I'm certified in social studies and it seems like there are so few full-time jobs each year and SO many eager applicants. My plan moving forward to is get my Master's in Special Education -- I have some experience working with kiddos on the spectrum, and it's just starting to feel like the right move for a number of reasons, but also because it's an area of critical need virtually everywhere.
It took me a few days to gain the maturity to accept that these goals likely will not all happen at once and regain a longer-term perspective. I've already enrolled in two classes for the spring semester and hope to be finished by summer 2018... not sure how easily a baby will fit into that schedule, but we do plan to give TTC a shot this winter and hopefully bring a little babe with us to the 'Burgh within the next two years. We'll see, I guess!
High School Teacher * Reluctant Floridian * Steelers Fan
Family info in Spoiler
DS 11/2017
MMC 10/2019 @ 12 weeks
Planning to try for our rainbow 01/2020
Wishing you best wishes on you future plans.
MC 4/15
BFP 10/10/16