Wow!! Honestly, I didn’t think I’d be able to really ever write this post. We’ve talked about this so many times over the past two and a half years and it honestly just always felt like it was right out of our reach.
If you follow me on Instagram, then you already know but if you don’t, then here you go. We’re making the big move from San Diego, CA to TENNESSEE!
I know, crazy right?! I can hardly believe it myself haha. Let me start back a couple of years ago when Dereck and I first started talking about moving out of California. I’ll skip all the craziness and basically just summarize that there was a LOT going on that really showed us how ready we were to go somewhere new. We knew that it would be in our best interest, not only for ourselves but for our family too, and we started looking at other states to move to. Thankfully Dereck has a job that he can work from basically any state and he can get hired in a new place pretty easily which allowed us to keep our options open as far as where we wanted to move.
Back in 2018, we looked near Las Vegas because at the time, my sister and her family were there and so was Dereck’s cousin. We’d still be close enough to the rest of our family in Southern CA while having the change of scenery we were looking for. After making the trip out there, checking out neighborhoods and Dereck speaking with some management at the potential new workplace, we decided it wasn’t for us.
Over the next year and a half, we talked about other places we’d like to go and potentially move to. We looked into different states like Washington, Utah, Wisconsin, and Texas and while Dereck was able to land a job at any one of those places, something just didn’t feel right for us.
Fast forward to December 2019/January 2020 when we started talking a little more seriously about where we’d end up going and that’s when Colorado came into play. It wasn’t too far fetched for us either. We liked the areas there, I’d been to Denver and loved it and we thought we could raise our family there. We thought WHY NOT, and in February we decided to reach out to management and see what information we could gather as far as Dereck starting a job there and what that could look like for us. I’m not going to lie, everything sounded GREAT! Almost one of those “too good to be true” type of situations. They were offering an incredible signing bonus, they were flexible with when we’d be able to move out because we wanted to let Madilynn finish out the school year (which put us at the end of May so we could move out to CO in June), they were eager to have Dereck start there and wanted to help us as much as they could to make our transition from CA to CO as easy as possible. Dereck was flying out in April to check out the new workplace, meet everyone in person, and basically solidify the deal of the move. So that was it! We were moving to Colorado and we were so excited!
Then, Covid happened. The flight to CO got cancelled, then rebooked without any confirmation and had an extra 3 stops making it so that his flight in total would be about 13 hours instead of the quick flight to CO that it should have been so we decided to cancel the flight completely until things settled down. We then got news that with everything going on, they were having to put a hold on hiring anyone new. At that point, Dereck and I had a pretty good idea that our move was going to be fairly delayed and it was yet another move that we wouldn’t be making. Months of planning and excitement slipped away from us. Then in July, Dereck got a call asking if he was still interested in coming to work in CO and was asked if he could start the following week. As excited as we were for this move, before all of this happened, we’d had a good 3-4 months to plan and get ourselves prepared and ready to go. With only one week notice and everything going on, we decided to decline the offer and there we were, back at square one.
I didn’t know it at the time, but Dereck was still looking around at different places to move (as was I, just not as consistently) and he was able to score an interview at a new place. Fast forward to September when he flew out to Tennessee. Things went really well and the management, again, was eager to have him join their team. I mean, he is a pretty hot commodity! Once he was back home, we sat down and discussed the potential move, how it would work, what we could expect, details of his new job, ya know, all the important things. We came to the decision that maybe all of these other place we’ve looked at over the past couple of years hadn’t worked out for a reason.
I’m a big believer in fate, and what’s meant to be will always find it’s way to you. I saw this as a sign. Tennessee was absolutely NOT in the cards for me. It honestly wasn’t even a thought in my mind, or a place that I’d ever considered before now. But the way Dereck talked about it, the excitement in his voice when I talked to him on the phone, his face lit up when he talked about being there. I knew this was where we were meant to end up.
I have to admit, I’m not sure why the Universe has thought to bring us to Tennessee, but I do know that the joy Dereck had when he talked about it, the excitement he had about the state itself, the towns he visited, the people at his new workplace…it made the unknown feel so WORTH IT. Knowing that he was happy where we’d be, knowing that he felt confident enough in a place that he could see our whole family in gave me a lot of peace of mind about this move. Oh, and I should probably add that I’ve NEVER been to Tennessee before so this move was COMPLETELY unexpected to say the least.
I’ve had so many people asking me about why Tennessee, and I hope that last bit helped to shed some more light on our decision. But a few other factors that came into play when we were making our decision are the cost of living, which is significantly cheaper than it is here in Southern California, the job opportunity for Dereck was great, we have some family actually IN Tennessee and close to it as well, and we actually have quite a few friends who are there too! As far as WHERE in TN, I think we’ll be somewhere maybe 30-40 minutes outside Nashville, that was another question I got a lot!
I think one of the biggest things for us was to find a place where we could really see our family living. Where our kids could grow up and be KIDS. We want to have property to play on, we want to be able to put more money aside for the fun things in life that it feels like we’ve kinda been missing out on these past couple years. I know I’d like to save up to start having our family go on vacations at least 1-2 times a year, I want to be able to give my kids everything we can and I know Dereck feels the same. Overall, it was a really good decision for us to make the move out there and we are so excited to make the move and start our next chapter in a new place and creating new memories!
So, that’s our story of how Tennessee came to be. I think I covered most of what I wanted to share, but if you have questions about the process or anything else, feel free to let me know in the comments! Also, if you live in Tennessee or you’re from there, I’d love to hear what you love to do out there, your must see places, kid friendly places to visit/do. Share all the things!
