Life’s little twists

Well, less than three months ago, we were headed to Guatemala. Plane tickets were purchased, dog paperwork was filled out, jobs were arranged. We visited Alex’s family in Wisconsin, then Alisha headed back to San Diego to finish packing. Then Alex ended up in the hospital. (NOTE: HE IS FINE NOW!!!!) Instead of flying to Guatemala, Alisha got on a plane back to Madison. Within a week, we were back in San Diego, packing up what was left of our house and driving to Madison.

Once we realized it wasn’t the right time for us to move overseas, we decided Madison was a great “right now” place. We’re near family, we get to see nephew Sebastian grow up, Alex was able to enroll last-minute in a subsidized Masters of Arts in Education, and why not? And it is like living in a foreign country- everyone wears red and white on Saturdays and green and gold on Sundays. And they all know chants and dances that I swear no one else in the world knows (“Green Bay First Down”, shouted with hand motions, for example). Alex and his brother, Peter, already made it to a Badgers game!

We’ve settled in pretty well. Alex is halfway through his first semester at Edgewood College and will begin substitute teaching in the next few weeks. I got a research assistant position at UW, working with lung cancer patients participating in clinical trials. Pepper is happy as can be, chasing squirrels, chipmunks, and the occasional falling leaf, though she does miss all her old friends (John!).

And the most exciting news- we are under contract to purchase our first home! If everything goes as planned, we will close and move in around December 1. We’re extremely excited, and can’t wait to have visitors. We’ll have two guest bedrooms, so make plans to visit us anytime, though I’m told you should wait till after winter . . .