Jessi Cole Jackson

I’ve had this song running through my head all day:

Weird, right? I can only assume it’s there because I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how much my summertime’s have sucked in the last few years. They’ve been filled with job and financial uncertainty, moves (including quite a few relocations), and a ton of stress. Although I don’t want to go into the specifics right now, this summer has shaped up to be the same familiar ball of worry and heat.

Let’s take a quick walk through memory lane of my last 5 summers. I’ll start with what was awful and end with a positive because there has also been a lot of good the last 5 years.

Summer 2008– The bad? We moved in together for the first time. It was really hard for me to adjust to sharing my space with another person. I learned I am a little bit territorial. The good? Kyle moved in. The long-distance part of our relationship was finally over, 3 years later.

Summer 2009– The bad? We were scheduled to relocate to the DC area for Kyle to start his PhD. It was incredibly scary because we had little savings and no idea what I would be doing to support us.  The good? Well, we got married. That was kind of huge. 

Summer 2010– The bad? I was a freelancer, which was really hard for me. I was constantly bouncing around different theatres in the DC area. The good? I met some amazing people and worked on some really amazing projects. 

Summer 2011- The bad? Kyle decided not to continue pursuing his PhD. This came with a massive job search that eventually ended with us moving back to Michigan. It was a hard decision– we were starting to really love DC and had some amazing friends we left behind. The good? We were headed back to Michigan. Also, there was a lot of awesomeness through that summer– it was filled with dancing and friends. 

Summer 2012– The bad? After things went horribly wrong with Kyle’s job in Michigan, we were both feverishly job hunting, that lovely yoyo/rollercoaster ride of hope and rejection. We sent applications all across the country and had no idea where we would end up. If you’ve never done that, let me tell you: it’s rough. The good? We both had really great prospects toward the end. It was timing that led us to NJ and we’ve loved it here so far. Most importantly though, we got to spend an entire summer in Michigan with our families. 

So…so pretty awful summers, but also some really, really awesome endings. I’m hoping that this year will turn out the same. In the meantime, this will be my anthem:

Sing along with us, dee dee dee dee dee

Da da da da da, yeah we’re hap-pap-py

Da da da dee da doo dee da dee da dee da da, yeah

Da da da da da, dee da da dee da da

Alright

(I should also note, that we’re ok. We’re not relocating. We’re settled in NJ for at least another year because that’s what our lease says, dammit. August is just going to be bring about some big changes. Once we know more, I will share.)