MaryB and the City

Happy feet.

Mr. Big is moving to Baltimore.

Cutting right to the chase…this is a good thing.

We’ve spent 11 months doing the long distance dance between Atlanta & Virginia. I’ve dropped approximately $1k on flights, airport parking and cabs over can’t-come-soon-enough-but-go-by-way-too-fast 3 day weekends, and carved out several of my coveted PTO days to soak up one extra night together. We’ve taken turns making the trip and driving to/from the airport has become a familiar route.

Anywhere from two to six weeks would lapse between our mini reunions and while 450 miles of space offers a healthy overdose of missing one another, it can get really old, really fast.

When he first moved for a job offer, we had only been back together for a mere 60 days post-reconciliation; time would tell if we could survive the distance. And that we did ~ beyond my wildest dreams. Well, with the exception of my self-diagnosed carpal tunnel for an extraordinary amount of texting.

“If we can survive this, given our past, we can survive anything” I told myself.

Although I had become as accustomed as you possibly can existing in a frequent flyer relationship —and had very much warmed up to the capital of Georgia — ultimately I’m happy that he’s headed up north again.

For one, it’s only a three-hour drive. Granted, I loath pavement pounding, but a gas tank is certainly more manageable on the wallet than a roundtrip Airtran ticket.

Secondly, seeing as though I’ll eventually be packing my bags and joining him someday, the location is much closer to our family and friends.

I’ve also heard rave reviews about the city and have visited it myself on a handful of occasions. There is nothing better than a body of water next to a lively downtown scene (which is why Chicago is one of my favorite spots), and the Baltimore Inner Harbor offers just that.

But even more exciting than the zip code itself, is the fact we can finally move forward on our journey together. For what feels like an eternity, we’ve been existing in limbo, trying to solve the enigma of our TBD future. Is he staying in Atlanta? Will I move there? Will he change jobs? Where should we live? Should he come back home? And now, it’s finally put to rest.

Not only will we be physically closer in the interim, but emotionally we’re at an all time high. And that is because…

Our dialogue has done a complete 180 to the point I’m suffering from a severe case of whiplash. For almost 10 years our lives have been run completely independent. But now conversations are laced with “we” “us” and “our”. This move and what it means isn’t just about him, it’s about two people who want to spend their lives together.

Every single solitary step of this process Big has included me in the decision-making domain; that fact is a defining turning point. Not that he’s considering my feelings and opinions, but that he’s creating a Plan.

After years, and years, and years of feeling unsettled, unsure of where I stood, now I know exactly where I…correction, where we stand.