Are you ready for this one? Are you sitting down? It’s time to share the chaos I’ve caused.

When Jeff floated the idea of moving to Ontario, I was about to apply for a new job at another company. I didn’t know it at the time, but that potential new job would only be able to hire me if I agreed to move to Ontario (or Alberta). It is a remote job, like I have now, but the company is only set up for payroll and taxes in certain provinces.

But the job seemed intriguing. Challenging. I have a friend already on the team there. Someone who I’ve really liked working with in the past. And we were planning to move to Ontario eventually anyway.

So I applied.

And now, 3 months later, I’ve landed the job!

Tomorrow is my last day of employment at Automattic. It’s hard to leave somewhere you’ve worked for over 13 years. I’ve made so many good memories and had amazing experiences. I visited parts of the world that I never dreamed I would. I gained countless new friends from around the world. I really thought I’d never leave. But sometimes, when life presents a new adventure, you’ve just got to give it a go.

I finish work on Tuesday, and on Thursday I have to hit the highway to get to Ontario in time to start the new job.

I’m going to live with my Mom for a bit. Get settled into the new role. I’ll still come back to visit Jeff and Hank and Dawson City and our friends. I’m hoping I can come back here and work remotely for 5-6 weeks over Christmas. Imagine it. 50 years old and I’m going to go live in my Mom’s basement again! (Thanks Mom!)

Jeff is in his final stretch before he retires, so this is a temporary state of chaos. We’ll get the house ready to sell next spring. When it sells, we can move all of our stuff to storage in Thunder Bay when the weather is right (ie. warm!) for moving. After that, I can shift to staying in Thunder Bay so I can pounce on buying a new house for us when the right one hits the market. Jeff will shift to living pretty minimally, and spend next summer in our truck camper with Hank. Once I get us our new place, then I’ll take Hank with me and Jeff will rent somewhere warmer for his final winter.

Living apart is going to be crazy, but the sacrifice may actually set us up well, logistically, to move our life and all of our stuff to Ontario. Fortunately, I’m just way too busy with packing up stuff into moving boxes that I don’t need in the short term, renovating and painting the inside of the house (our painter is here daily to work on painting most of the inside of the house), wrapping up my projects at work, telling people I’m leaving, handling the logistics of disconnecting my personal and work life on this laptop so it can be purged, plotting a drive to Ontario, thinking of all the logistics to becoming an Ontario resident again (back to OHIP!), trying to figure out what I should move with me now when I’m taking my truck, and trying to keep Hank from bothering his stitches!) to think too much about how rough it is going to be apart. We did it for two months last year during my sabbatical road trip, so I think we can survive it. Especially with video chats. And I’ll come back and forth whenever I can. Just the idea of leaving Dawson is difficult enough; I’m glad for a phased transition rather than just one last drive down the Klondike Highway! I love this place! It’s always been my utopia. The most special place on the planet. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t see what adventure is next. Hopefully we’ll be so busy that the time apart will fly by until we’re living together in the same house again!

I have a house guest right now too! Someone special flew up here to share my last few days here with me, and then this person will jump into the co-pilot seat and take the adventurous drive with me to Ontario! More on that soon!