News

Well, its been a long long time since I got around to making an update on here, Crystal has had the reigns on that for awhile, but no more!

Things have been stirring around here for sometime now, and for the most part, no major disasters have occurred. Sure there is the occasional diaper that blows out (Elliot gets that from his mother), and last night he tried to pee on my arm while he was in the bath, but thats about where the drama ends....sorta.

Crystal isn't doing so well adjusting to the Desert a.k.a face of the sun (and the real heat isnt even here yet), missing her family (I do too actually), our friends (even those idiots we like so much), and we've decided enough is enough.

Last weekend, I was back in Atlanta, GA for a Weathersby Guild Conference. My Dad and I flew in Thursday afternoon (after I left our house at 3:00 am to get to his house and pick him up, then off to the PHX airport) at 2 pm. We had a casual dinner that night with everyone at the Fudruckers near the Hotel where we were meeting. Now, I don't know for sure it was something I ate there...but I was sick the entire weekend. When I say sick, I mean ED was visiting from out of town, and he always brings way too much luggage for his stay...enough on that. Anyway, I pulled the head honcho Kent Weathersby aside and had a little chat with him. A brief play by play of how that went:

Kent: Hello Michael, how is Crystal doing?
Me: She hates Tucson, its too hot, and shes too far from her family.
Kent: Well, perhaps its time to show her physically and mentally, that you are ready to be her Champion, her protector, her provider, and move her back near her family, we talked once before that if you wanted to move your Guild to the Portland/Seattle area, I'd love to have you go there and represent the Guild with a presence, its something we've wanted for along time to be up in the Pacific NW.
Me: Well, I need to sit her down and have that conversation, cause I'm missing my friends and family too, and its really starting to take its toll.
Kent: Well, lets get some research done and look into it, get in touch with some of your adjusters you do work for and see if they could use you up there.
Me: I think I will.

So, anyway, I got home just before Midnight on Saturday, and Sunday morning when I woke up, Crystal and I had a good talk about moving back. When I first mentioned it to her, she looked in my eyes and I could tell right then, if I get her back home, I'll never be able to do any wrong the rest of my life so long as I did this for her. So, we are moving back home! There are still some things we have to iron out, but its a done deal.

We are in a lease on this house until August 31st, so thats the earliest we can go, then, we have to check with our insurance to see if we can move our policy up there, or if we have to start a new one. If we have to start a new one, we have to stay until January sometime...and thats cause our current policy covers maternity stuff...since Crystal is PREGNANT again and expecting January 7th. :)

So, things are coming along nicely. I have spoke with many adjusters and the resounding response from them is "hurry up and move". So thats a nice burden lifted wondering if there is work there. Many of them have told me that the Seattle area is where the majority of their need is, but I'd like to get Portland/Vancouver up and running first, open my own refinishing shop, and then see about getting a business loan to open Seattle. Will then look for someone to run that branch for me, I can travel too and from to help out with big repair jobs, and be more of a manager in that area. Thats putting the cart in front of the horse just a touch, but I'm trying to get a time frame down for my vision of where I see this thing going. Like Kent said to me when he heard this plan, "thats not a bad idea, you don't want to be going out doing service calls when your 60". And he would know, cause I think he is rapidly approaching that age and still working in the field, but, he is damned good at what he does, and I think maybe just a pinch of a work aholic, much like my Dad...and me, who am I kidding. This work has quickly become a passion for me, I love taking something broken and making it whole again, or taking something ugly and old, and giving it new life, very rewarding stuff.

I'm going to miss my Dad and Step Mom very much, but I'm hoping with us being so close to the Beach, and them in the warm weather all year long, we will both have reasons to travel and see each other more than we have in the past. Even living as close as we do (hour drive time), we don't get to see them all that often. I'll also miss the sunny warm winter weather here, but, to be honest, I'm really missing the rain and the cold. Not so cold that I can't feel my own butt cheeks, but that cool brisk fall air...oh baby, poppa is coming home!!!!