Thoughts

In two weeks I'm turning 25. Is that even possible?!? Life goes too fast. I feel anything but old enough to be a wife and a mother, making huge decisions that will effect the rest of my life and my family's life. This week it has really hit me that I am "growing up." Bryan and I have been talking a great deal about our future plans. Law school is a little different than other advanced degrees in that the internship you get your second year usually turns into where you start your career the years after. We have to start applying for that second year internship already this summer. Yes, I ALREADY have to know where I want to spend the next chapter (5+ years) of my life when I feel like we just barely decided on staying at BYU for Law School. This place we decide on now will be where Bryan works his first job, where we buy our first home, where my baby starts school, where our family continues to grow. This is a HUGE decision. We have to look into possible income amounts, housing prices, tax prices, education systems, the strength of the church, distance from family, medical centers, and on and on and on. We are looking EVERYWHERE: Texas, Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, California, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Georgia, Tennessee.

I have my pro/con lists and my charts with all the different numbers. Unfortunately, those charts cannot help me with one of my greatest concerns. There were times growing up in Wisconsin that I truly loved, but there were other things that were extremely difficult and challenging. The frozen tundra weather aside, the main challenge was being LDS in a community where our family stood alone. Since this was such a struggle for me and my siblings it is a huge issue for me to not put my own children in that same situation. At the same time, I made amazing friends in Wisconsin; I had a chance to really have my faith tested and learn on my own what I known to be true. So my question is where is the happy medium?!? I grew up where I was the only one; My cousin's grew up in Orem where they didn't even know other religions existed. I don't necessarily want either of those situations. I assume the church is generally pretty strong near larger cities. Basically Bryan and I haven't lived enough other places to know what the church is like outside our comfort zone states.

Any thoughts?!? They are more than welcome!

The plus of "growing up" and almost being 25 is that I'm not naive enough to think that you can't be happy no matter where you live. I know happiness is a choice; I just think that choice is easier when you are in a city that feels like home! :)