decisions

I think I've just about talked P. into accepting the job at Elite but Rural College, which means we may be on the move again. It's taken quite a bit of effort on my part to convince him to take the job, but after a week of thinking things through, I think it's the right thing to do. It means putting my academic career on hold, but I feel great about not needing to send D. off to daycare before he can even tell us what's happening there. Elite Rural College has offered me part-time work, so I can still keep one foot in the academy door. And if I'm somehow able to publish more in the next few years, maybe P. and I will be competetive enough in two years time to go on the market again and find two tenure track jobs that are closer together.

When I was able to shrug off all the internal and external pressures I felt about my needing to have a successful career, the whole problem became so much clearer. Because the truth of the matter is that D. has become my world and my life's meaning, and I'm not ready to give THAT up for a career right now.