Why We’re Moving Back to Ohio

Moving Back to Ohio

I still remember the exact feeling I felt when Aaron matched to Duke for residency: fear, excitement and a touch of sadness. I had never lived out of the state of Ohio before, so the thought of living in North Carolina for four years while my husband trained 80+ hours a week seemed daunting and lonely.

We were practically newlyweds when we moved, only six months into marriage and still trying to figure it out. We didn’t know anyone in North Carolina, so naturally I was convinced that the moment Aaron’s four years of training were up, we’d pack our bags and head back home. No questions asked. Those first few weeks were scary. We knew no one but attended welcome event after welcome event and slowly began to make plans with new friends. Little did we know how much some of them would come to mean to us, or how much Durham would come to mean to us.

Within the first year or so we started to talk about not leaving; we both had grown to love the South, Duke’s system and the area, and we both could picture ourselves building a permanent life in North Carolina. When Aaron decided to extend his training an additional year, we decided to stay put in Durham. We had bought a home the second year of residency, I had a job and our dogs had enough space to run around. We felt settled…happy.

Slowly though, things started to change. Friends we had grown to come and love finished their training and moved on, meaning many goodbyes and lots of tears. And then of course, we welcomed Penelope into our lives.

When Aaron started to interview, we were still strongly considering staying in North Carolina or even moving to South Carolina, but he also was interviewing back in the mid-West to be closer to friends and family.

When it all came down to it, we decided that moving back to Ohio was what we needed to do. It was not an easy decision to come to, nor one we made without weighing every pro and con. At the end of the day, the job just ended up being the best opportunity for Aaron and felt most like the “right fit” for the next phase of our life. At the end of the day, we weighed all of the pros and cons and moving back to Ohio won, but it doesn’t make leaving any easier.

There is never one right way to make a big decision like this, but for us, it honestly came down to that list. All the pros, all the cons for each location and each job. Sure, we’re going to miss the winter here in North Carolina (or lack thereof) and we’re going to miss being able to drive to the mountains or the beach in just a few hours. I’m going to miss Southern hospitality, the diversity and just the way of life here. And we both agree we’re going to miss our friends who have become our family over the past five years.

You have to pave your own path, make the hard decisions that are best for your own life and your own family. As long as you feel it’s best for you, there are no wrong decisions. We’re going to miss so much about the past five years we’ve had here in North Carolina, but we no longer have to miss birthday parties, holidays or the ability to watch Penelope play with her cousins or hug her grandparents. The best thing for us and our family was to move back, but gosh, we are so fortunate to have had this adventure.

 

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