The Mosh Pit Ballet of a Cross-Country Move

I’ve tried to conform to expectations on this platform, but as a writer my general strength is writing personalized letters and correspondence, and not brief, click-bait essays that get eyes on what I’m saying. In other words — my writing couldn’t be less of a fit for platform-type writing. Whoops! So, you’ll excuse me if I revert to a form of writing that is far more comfortable for me, so I can get something off my chest.

You see, dear reader, I’ve been struggling for around three months to talk about something that is now definitely dictating nearly every thought, and is quickly taking over nearly every moment of my day — which is that Darren and I are moving from Oregon and back to the Rust Belt.

Why Move?

I know. It couldn’t be more opposite, right (unless it was to Florida, and no, we’re not going that far)? We have several compelling reasons to make the move, but I’ll list three, in no order:

Working in Oregon cannabis hasn’t worked out.

Darren fulfilled his desire to work in cannabis, and I did as well, but far less successfully. Every year, Darren would be laid off — for a couple of months to half the year. His income was basically minimum wage, which — again, it’s simply not enough to survive.

In those times when he was laid off, we ate through all of our savings. Before you think ‘But Jamie, you have 30,000 readers on Medium’ allow me to share my earnings here the…