Sturdy for Common Things

Moving to the Mitten

Change is on the horizon. We’re moving to Michigan a.k.a The Mitten a.k.a the land of my husband’s people (seriously, the place is crawling with family). This spring, we’ll pick up our not-even-a-year-old roots here in Tennessee and head north. The Chattanooga experiment did not work out how we had hoped and while it has been a humbling experience, we’re thankful for the dose of perspective and are optimistic about our family’s new adventure. Time here has proved rife with invaluable learning experiences. It has been rich with challenges and eye-opening discoveries in making sense of the multiliteracy needs of the young Chattanooga residents. My primary goal when arriving was to assess the needs of the community and let that guide my focus. I hope in my time here I’ve helped build bridges where there were gaps and inspired creativity and self-discovery. It was a privilege to work with and serve the Chattanooga community and the group of caring and creative librarians in the Children’s Room at the Chattanooga Public Library downtown. I will never forget their kindness and passion.

In January, I accepted a position at the East Lansing Public Library as a Youth Services Specialist with the primary duty of developing youth programming. I will start my new role there in June. We put our house on the market this week and my last day at work will be next week.  Our friends and family have been nothing but encouraging in this decision making process. We are grateful for the positive vibrations sent from near and far. 

And dear reader, in many ways you are my mainstay. Your collaboration, support, and reassurance here is appreciated more than you’ll ever know.

The kids, the cats, and I will move in with my husband’s folks while we sell the house and Will finishes up the school year teaching. This will be another big change, but we are giddy with excitement. We are going home.

Onward!