Waiting on our house closing and buying plants for the spring

Where We Come From

Valerie and I met over a decade ago; while going to school at UVU in Orem, Utah. She was a ballroom dance major, and I took some dance classes and competed ballroom dance on a local level as a way to relax from my pre-med classes. I was seven and a half years older than her and so I didn't think much of it when we first met, since she was just out of high school. But, over time, we got to know each other better and, after two and a half years, we got married. 

Since that point she's followed me across the country and back again a couple of times, as we've moved from Utah to southern California, back to Utah, then Michigan, then northern California, then off to Vermont. During that time we've been blessed to have three kids, all born in different states, and made a lot of good friends and good memories. Initially, this was because of medical school, then residency, but finally it was for work. 

Our initial attempt at a job fell through and the first job I could land after that was a Per Diem or Locum type position, where I would come to an area and fill in for a doctor for a few months, then move on. It was great money, and they paid for our housing, but it just isn't the same as settling down in one spot. We continued to look for work, but the next job we were able to land was another Locum job, this one in Vermont. It was in the fall, which was great as the place was beautiful, but it was getting cold and we didn't want to be stranded there for the winter. Fortunately, we were working on a long term job at that point, and that led us to Forestville, NY. It's a tiny community an hour or so from Buffalo, NY, and 15 minutes from my current office in Dunkirk, NY.

We showed up in the area on a snowy November day, to stay at another short term housing location, as we finalized everything for work, and looked for a house. We looked at several houses in the area, over the course of a month or more, and finally settled on a beautiful white house, at the top of a small hill, outside of the community of Forestville. It's on ten acres of grass, trees, has a large insulated barn, and has a pond in one corner. It's beautiful (though it needs a lot of cosmetic work on the inside) and the best part is, it was only $300,000. Actually, that's one of the main reasons we love these rural areas so much, is that we can buy our dream house here for less than a two-bedroom rundown little shack would cost in some of the less desirable areas of California. 

Anyway, three months later and we're finally closing on the house, and I'm finally starting work as well. I'm reminded of the rule that there's always more paperwork than is possibly reasonable.

Through the whole adventure, we've relied on each other, and God, and somehow we've survived through the whole of it. There's a lot of work ahead, but a whole lot of fun too.