We celebrated our 1 year anniversary of owning Salem Foot and Ankle Clinic.
It has been a hard year. I am sure we have some gray hair. hehe
Figuring out how to be business owners, employers, a doctor, dealing with the old owner, learning to market yourself...
It is all hard!
The best part though, is putting in some blood, sweat, and tears and seeing the business thrive.
I couldn't say last year that I liked Oregon. It was a hard year with a really wet winter and spring, buying the practice, having a newborn. It wasn't so fun... But this year I can really say that Oregon is growing on me. I have been much happier and enjoy the rain, the rainbows, the fluffy clouds, and the crazy random that Portland has to offer. It is truly growing on me. I don't think about California as much as I used to, and I don't envy my friends when I see their instagrams, blogs or facebook statuses.
(Ok, maybe a little. I do love it there...)
We have had some surprises (well, not really... but kinda) this past month and we found out some friends of ours would be moving to California and it started to make me feel a yearning for California again. I just wanted to be there, and I started questioning what our life would be like if we were still there, would the kids have a better childhood, would I be a better mom if the sun was shining all the time...
It was starting to consume my thoughts again and making me unhappy with Oregon all over.
I was mad at myself for feeling this way again, and I kept trying to take my mind off of it, so I said a little prayer.
A day or two later, I was on pinterest and I saw this print...
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It was what I needed to hear.
By no means has our ship come in, but we definitely started our long swim out to it by moving to Oregon. Literally swimming through rain. :)
I just felt like we could have a fine life in California, but in Oregon we can have a better life. We don't need to worry about crazy home prices, gas prices, food prices, taxes. We don't have to worry about paying for a car that breaks down, or a roof that needs to be repaired. The cost of living is so much lower in Oregon, that those things do not worry us like they did when we lived in California.
We can get out of medical school debt and business debt way faster than we ever could in California.
When we buy our house, we want a 15 yr mortgage, and pay that sucker off fast.
How great does that sound... to not have any debt.
I don't think that would happen that fast in CA.
So California, I am not saying I am breaking up with you, but you know, we could have lived in you and waited for our "ship to come in", or we could have taken a swim out to our ship....
and I think we chose wisely.
(Promise we will come and visit.)
5 love notes:
I loved reading your deep Jen thoughts :) I'm so happy Oregon is starting to feel like home. You guys were super brave to move somewhere completely new, buy a practice, and have a baby all at once pretty much! No wonder it was a hard year! I'm sure the longer you stay the more you will fall in love with Oregon. You have done a pretty good job selling me on it with your blog posts about fresh produce and cool trips to Portland! Plus, once you are super rich and successful you can plan awesome vacations during rainy season :)
I can totally relate. There are things that I love about back east, but it has been way more difficult than I thought! I am surprised how much I miss California - the weather, the friends, Disneyland, the beach, everything. It has been a long, long winter, trying to stop thinking about my old life in SoCal and appreciating the good things about New Hampshire. I think there are pros and cons to anywhere and I just need to learn to focus on the good things right in front of me instead of thinking so much about the ways New Hampshire doesn't measure up to California. P.S. Congrats on the anniversary of buying the practice! Woohoo!
I can totally relate! Do you ever listen to Dave Ramsey? You would love him. Yes I had to break up with OC for a short time, hopefully we will still get back together. I think us mom's had the best life in HB4th ward.
There are so many courageous choices to be made. You did what you felt was best and those type of choices are often not the easy or most desirable, but they do take courage to make and to see through. You have the best attitude. Making wise choices is tough. I am right there with you lady.
Great post, Jen. While it's not always easy for me, I'm a firm believer in creating your life, not just waiting for it to happen. Life will always have rough patches, but intentional living makes it all so worth it.
Congrats on one year in business! Owning a business feels a bit like parenting for us--the lows can be lower but the highs are amazing! And the opportunity to grow as people is so rewarding.
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