The Beginning of a New Chapter

Oh Virginia. I have grown comfortable here. There is so much that I love about my home here. When we moved here I said five years, Devin said 10, and so we compromised and settled at eight. This coming January 2017 was our mark. (I have to push my hand against my heart as I type this, it does hurt a bit to know, we could have been going home to family.)

I've been reflecting. We moved here, nine months newly married, on our first big adventure together. Recon was in embryo stage. It was all new and exciting, but still scary. Luckily we had the Tanners. They became our family as we moved here together, lived together our first six months, and have since relied on each other, every Thanksgiving and Christmas spent here, we spent it together. 

Fast forward to present day, I have three kids, Nicolina has five (and our kids are best friends). Recon is thriving. It is finally at a point where we can step away. And we do! The Tanners pick up and move to Provo and we... We dig in a bit deeper here.  Devin is now the proud owner of his second Virginia (well, it's technically in Maryland) business. 

Ah! So many feelings. So sad to see the Tanners go! I felt like I lost my support system. I ran out of yeast and didn't know what to do, I'm so used to sending the kids down the hill to borrow any ingredient. I'll miss having FHE together. I felt at a loss planning Thanksgiving dinner without them. I will definitely miss her calling me up saying "McKell- It's a beautiful day, you should go for a run and I'll watch your kids!" I learned so much about parenting from watching her in action. One summer she picked up two bushels of peaches for me while I was in Utah. She saw that they were starting to turn fast, so before I got back home she bottled all those peaches for me. They have been the best kind of friends. And we miss them!

When we first moved here, to the morning the Tanner's left us.

Cora, Bridger, and Ethan

Sawyer and Baby Dean

Mary, Lucy, Myra

What made us make the jump for another I-don't-know-how-many-years with this business? I can't say exactly. For Devin, it was a lot of things. He has a business partner, and I think a lot of it was that Brandon wanted to marry our families together before we left Virginia. And for this business in particular, it felt right. I was ready to leave, but as I prayed about it my heart changed. Both Devin and I felt prompted that our time here wasn't done. I thought I would be angry about it, or depressed, or at least throw some kind of fit, but I wasn't/didn't and that seemed answer enough. We were united in our decision to purchase this business.

We quickly learned it wasn't going to be as easy or transparent as we expected. I am using the pronoun "we" but, really, it was all on Devin. I am amazed how capable and adept he is. As it was a business completely foreign to him, he had a huge learning curve, there was lots of stress, difficult people to work with (employees who were already there, Brandon has been great but he is still working his other job), and insane work hours. If it were someone else, I really question if the company could have survived the transition, but he adapted well and I have always had total faith in his ability. I have never seen him work so hard, or such long hours. If you heard rumors of him having a hammock in his office, it is true. Some days he would go in to work at 4AM and not come home until a few days later. It was crazy, and hard on everyone.

It's been 10 months since we purchased Central Glass Inc, and it still feels brand new, but luckily things have simmered down. Devin isn't so stressed and, for the last few weeks at least, he has been coming home at normal hours. We've questioned if it was the right choice, but it is something we will have to ride out, and I have a feeling it will turn out for the best. We just don't know how long of a ride it will be.

We agreed before the business purchase was done, that if Devin was going forward with this, I could go forward with my teacher training to become a registered yoga teacher (RYT 200hr). My training started in September, and to me it seemed that it couldn't have come at a better time! I love it. I love everything I'm learning, there is so much more to yoga than I expected, and I appreciate it all, I enjoy studying it, and I like the practice. It has been a good "reset" for me, deeply needed, and so worthwhile. I love having some time off from being a mom... and I love being a mom... but this is me time, and I come back better and stronger for it. It has helped me to remember who I am. Somewhere along the mom path I felt like I lost who I really am, and it has been wonderful to reclaim my identity. I love my instructor, I love the friends I have made in the class, and I feel like I am learning truth. I hope I will be better because of my training. And I hope I can share it for the benefit of others as well.

With the Tanners leaving and Recon doing wonderful on its own, we have closed our first chapter, and with this new business and my yoga training we have begun a new chapter (still) here in Virginia. The beginning pages were so good, it's sad to be done with them, but I have faith that the pages we are turning now will also hold a good story. For me, I'll have to learn to rely on others since Nicolina isn't here. It is going to push us, and will require courage and expansion out of our comfort zone, but I am happy with where we are and excited for what is to come.