Fly away home

Two of our reporters are leaving us for greener pastures. One to a better position in Iowa and one to Wisconsin with his future wife. I'm excited for them and I'm going to miss them.

It's always good to see a colleague move on and up. I imagine them like birds, flying away to some exciting future in a city I've heard of but never seen. Perhaps the single ones will find "The One," settle down and have four kids. Perhaps they'll live in five other new cities before they settle. No matter, they will meet new people, eat in new restaurants, have new experiences and eventually become familiar with an entirely new environment.

I've seen a lot of birds fly through the Chronicle in the seven and a half years or so that I've been there. I was once told that to move up in this field, you have to move to a bigger paper about every three years.

My wings are kind of clipped. I won't be flying to any new cities anytime soon.

I think many times about applying for a feature writer position somewhere else, or even better, something with a magazine. I think I would be well suited. But there are only so many opportunities around here, and I can't leave.

That's not really true. I could leave, but it would mean uprooting my kids again. They've only been "settled" for about four years. Before that, we moved about every two to three years. Christopher's been to eight different schools and Catie's been to five. Living around the corner from my mom has more advantages than I can count. She's been super!

That's just too much to lose by flying too far away.

I worry that by the time I am able to move up and out, I'll be too old and set in my ways. I'll be 42 by the time Catie goes off to college. If she goes off to college. (I won't force...just strongly encourage.) I'll still be young, yes. But you know, I kind of like calling Augusta home. My roots are so deeply entrenched here that I don't know if I could ever really leave it. Not for extended periods of time, at least. When I dream of moving away, it's to nearby places like Charlotte, Savannah or Asheville. But how I would love to see other places. Montana, maybe. Or North Dakota. Just to see it, experience it, soak up what's around me. And write about it.

Maybe when the kids are grown and I'm living in my RV by the lake, I'll be able to take a couple of years to travel the country and freelance. Ooh, I'll even be able to take my house with me!