Twenty-Fourteen was a big year (meaning lots of changes) for us.
The first change happened in January when I started back to work as a dietitian at a nursing home/rehab center. It was a challenging place to work for many reasons. Mostly because I had a steep learning curve as it'd been a while since my last official dietitian job. It required some late nights and lots of reading/homework, especially for the first several months. Overall it was a good experience for all of us. As it turns out, I like working in long-term care. I'm also pretty good at it. Since Jacob's job was more flexible, he took over the after school stuff with the girls (ballet, homework, chores, dinner preparation). They had a great time together. The girls learned simple meal preparation (fish sticks made frequent appearances at dinner) and how to do their laundry.
The next big change came after months of uncertainty at IBM. Jacob survived a couple rounds of layoffs, and then an announcement that his division was going to be sold to Global Foundries. The uncertainty initiated a job search, and Jacob spent months studying and interviewing with different companies looking for a good fit. IBM officially announced the sale of the division in October, the same week Jacob interviewed with Qualcomm. The interview went well and North Carolina was appealing to us, so after a week of agonizing over all possible scenarios (as well as some impossible ones) we decided to move to Raleigh. Jacob's first day was December 8th, and we officially left Vermont on December 21st.
In the middle of these major life decisions we thought it would be a good time to attempt another baby (go big or go home). We were excited (and simultaneously terrified) when we found out I was pregnant in August (due in April).
Meanwhile...
The girls grew several inches. They started 2nd and 5th grade. They planned parties, and started little businesses with their friends. They read book after book. They rode their bikes through the neighborhood, and had adventures in the forest. They learned how to skydive. We read Harry Potter together. We practiced our moonwalks. We did fun things with our friends. We visited Quebec City, Queensbury (NY), Portland (Maine), Colorado, Utah, Ogunquit (Maine), North Woodstock (NH), Montreal, and Morton (IL). We continued the photography business. We enjoyed Vermont life including skiing, ice skating, maple sugaring, Ben and Jerry's, berry picking, swimming in the lakes and rivers, campfires (and dough boys) at Indian Brook, apple picking, Halloween, Friendsgiving, Church street, and Shelburne farm.
I'm generally of the opinion that change is a good thing. It's exciting, challenging, and provides opportunities for growth, new experiences, and new friends. It is also disruptive, challenging, and causes heartache for what and who is left behind.
Vermont will always have a very special place in our hearts. I believe we will look back on the last 4 years as a kind of surreal, charmed existence. Especially as we become more and more removed from it and forget some of the annoying stuff. Vermont will be remembered for it's incredible beauty, idyllic quaintness, and the great people that were a part of our lives. Compiling our slideshow for 2014 made our hearts ache for our Vermont life. We love you all (including our friends and family in other places), and miss you. Thank goodness for social media, blogs, Skype, text messages and phones.
DahleFamily2014 1280x720 23p976fps 10Mbps from Heather Dahle on Vimeo.
Music: Josh Woodword "Perfect", Orbit Monkey "Catching Memories", Zia Hanssan "A Love Like That"
The slideshow is taking longer than it should to load. It might be less frustrating to watch it directly on Vimeo's website...https://vimeo.com/126134740.
