Last month Jaron resigned from his position as worship director at First Presbyterian Champaign. We also sold our house. And I resigned from my three jobs. There was a lot of undoing done.

Owning a home was something we desperately wanted two years ago. We found a beautiful one with great neighbors. Really great neighbors. But soon the maintenance of our house-owner relationship began to wear on us. No more going out with friends and much less time for Jaron to record. And huge bills. Not including the mortgage. I began to hear a verse run through my head that I had heard years earlier in a LJ Booth song.

“My father warned me with with his tongue
But back then I was too young
He said that when you’re grown it’s true
What you think you own, owns you”

More and more often the beauty of our home became overshadowed by its demands. After many months of feeling it out, we put our pretty white house with a picket fence on the market. For Sale by Owner. How hard could it be?

One month later after seemingly endless boxes and phone calls and writing checks and getting checks, we are moved out and closed. So fast. And and unbelievable relief.

To add to the upheaval, we’ve decided to move to Nashville. What?? What’s in Nashville?? Well, a dream. A dream of pursuing music more fully and being surrounded by other folks after the same thing. Where we won’t be the weird ones. And a beautiful city with a fantastic coffee and food scene, both of which we tend to be kind of snobby about. 🙂

There have been some definite freak-out moments. Moments when this move feels too crazy and I want to do the safe thing. Like stay employed and own a home and look the part of a responsible young adult. But fact is, there is no safe option. Not Champaign, not San Diego, not Stars Hollow. Watching the generation before me I’ve seen some folks go after big change. For others, it shows up uninvited through a lost job or home or family. For the time being, Jaron and I are choosing the curve ball. The choose-your-own adventure autobiography. This is a dream we have shared for years and it’s only grown over time. So with the firm knowledge that we may utterly fail and the comfort that we are well-loved and there are couches to crash land on if needed, we are moving to Nashville.

We are simplifying yet again, to a small apartment and part time jobs. And complicating things with starting our own business and recording an album (!!) and paying for our own health care in an increasingly costly market. This is not an attempt to become famous. There are no American Idol try-outs in our future. Just a question that needs to be answered – a question of whether the pursuit of this craft is worth the sacrifices. We’re so glad to have the opportunity to find out. And can’t wait to share the successes and failures of the coming months with you.