Could be worse

As everyone in our inner circle sort of already knows, Seb got offered a snazzy new job near Lyon last month. He gleefully accepted seeing as the salary was leaping off the page at him saying, "fool, if you don't take this you'll regret it all your sorry assed life ..." I muttered a begrudging "fine," with a few sighs added in. Given that we've moved six times in five years it wasn't going to put me any further in the grave to move yet again. I mean I suppose. And the job offered lots of new opportunities that his country bumpkin company here isn't able or willing to offer him. How could we say no to The Dream Job.

But then his country bumpkin job here in the mountains where we live said that they loved him very much and didn't want him to leave. They offered him a bit more money and then a bit more. The salary started looking a little like the salary of the Dream Job. Well, kind of. Then they offered him a sort of promotion of sorts, he wasn't exactly excited about the promotion because it was lateral and well, kind of lateral and then diagonally downwards, but they said it was a stepping stone to a bigger promotion one day. A step he needed to take first. He felt flattered and loved and so, in spite of the strange 'promotion' he said "okay, I'll stay here." Besides, we love it here and we love our house and the mountains and the lake. We weren't exactly looking to move to a city where we'd have to become renters again. A big city with lots of nameless faces.

So now he has said yes to two companies. He hasn't given notice to either one. Each day he mulls over the merits of staying or leaving. He's walks around with a calculator and a perpetually wrinkled brow. We've interviewed the masses to see how they feel; friends, family and strangers who have faced similar career crossroads. The majority think we should leave for Lyon and abandon our situation for a fresh start. Everyone seems to thinks this except Madame G who said "you'll be buried in work so deep you'll never see the light of day," which was odd because Dream Company has a reputation for just that and this was a big concern of his. A career leap but at what cost? His work load would probably triple and he'd find himself getting home most nights after baby S was already fast asleep. Madame G advised him to stay put and have faith in where he is. She must have read his mind. This was what was thinking anyway, that maybe he should just stay put and keep the faith.

But then again... here before him and us was possibility. A foreign post one day, a bigger salary, bonuses, profit sharing.

Just for the record the house is a no brainer. We couldn't ever sell it. If we decided to go to Lyon it would mean we'd have to finish it within a year, borrowing what we need and then we'd have to rent it out. The logistics of this alone are frightening. It actually could be very profitable in the end, but we'd have to borrow the money and find the workers to finish the project. The first part is easy enough, the second part almost unthinkable. Finding people to work on our house for a reasonable price? Beyond impossible. So here we are lassoed to the house we love. Never love a house because it won't love you back.

We don't know what to do. We're stymied. After all we'd really rather stay put. But then again....