There's been a lot of back and forth.
We make a decision.
We change it.
We go back to the initial decision.
It changes again.
Oh, well, looks like we're back again at the same decision.
Initially when we were planning to move to Corpus Christi from Dallas when Nick graduated chiropractic school, we planned to rent for a little bit and then build a house. We were going to use an empty concrete dairy barn on Nick's parent's property that was built in 1946 by his grandfather (his mom's dad).
Well, fast forward a few years, and one kiddo later (Conner), I had the strongest desire to live in a neighborhood. One with sidewalks, neighbors we could be friends with and have over for dinner (who am I kidding, I don't like people), easy access to shopping / grocery stores (a nice/big grocery store is a very important part of life), and a place where our current kiddo and future kiddo(s) would play with their neighborhood friends.
So we scrapped the "build onto the dairy" idea and started looking for homes. In this fantasy world I had imagined in my head, we were going to buy a beautiful new home in the best school district around Corpus. There was a big problem though - it's really expensive to live there. And I grew up in Dallas so I know what's expensive and the cost was scary for me. But we wanted the best for Conner and when it came to scores, graduation rates, college attendance rates, SAT/ACT testing and scoring, attendance rate - the school district we wanted to move into was the top top top, minus the private schools. While the private schools in Corpus mostly have amazing academics, their athletic departments are lacking and we do not feel comfortable sending our **crossing our fingers and praying** athletically inclined son to. We are in Texas where football is right up there with Jesus (I hope you sense the sarcasm here) and sports are very important in our family. In a former life (i.e. a few years ago), I worked for an educational non-profit and part of my job was compiling reports and statistics from the TEA (Texas Education Agency) on how our schools were performing so that we could make steps to take under-performing schools in the right direction with training, etc. So I am well-versed in the all of the data that you can get on schools and their districts. It's a LOT of data. Maybe too much for someone like me that will research something to death. So when we moved to Corpus knowing we were having a child, I did all of the research on all of the school districts in the area. Let's just say, there's a whole lot of bad with a few bright spots.
After driving through our fantasy neighborhood a million times (mainly to get Conner to nap in the car on the way home from the grocery store), we started discussing that maybe this wasn't the right move for our family. Could we afford to move there? Well, yes, but would we be able to buy food and clothing? Most likely not. And we'd be the poor people of the neighborhood. As much as that does not matter to me, it's not a stigma I want for my child. Kids are cruel these days and if I can avoid something that might possibly trigger bullying, I will. Another problem with that neighborhood and school district, it's 99% white. Well, yes, we are also white, so what's the problem? I grew up in a very diverse neighborhood and school system (until high school where we moved into a predominantly white school system) where I was the minority. I remember in 3rd grade I was the only white female in my class. I think it's very important to be around people of other races, religions, genders, differences and disabilities. Growing up with the knowledge that others around you may be different than you but they're no less than you is a good lesson to learn.
So, we started looking at other school districts that might have excellent, although not amazing, test scores but also have more affordable housing. We decided on two school districts and started looking at homes that were in our "more comfortable, able to eat" price range. Of course we found a home that we both loved, but it sold. That was definitely a blessing though! After losing the house we loved (although you can't really say we lost it since we weren't even close to actually buying a house yet, but in my mind we had claimed it), we needed to re-evaluate where we wanted to be, what schools we wanted Conner in, what we wanted for his (and future children's) childhood, what area our new business (more on that later) was going to be in, and what our long term goals were.
We kept coming back to the dairy. It checked off so many boxes:
- I would be able to build my dream home from the ground up (makes my design heart SO HAPPY)
- We would be able to take a piece of my husband's history, and now Conner's, and make that a part of the rest of our lives
- I'd get to have mini goats (yes, not kidding, Nick agreed)
- Conner (and future kiddos) would be able to have a similar childhood's to Nick and grow up out in the country
- The best part of all - Conner would be able to grow up "just across the barn" from his grandparents and for Nick and me, that's reason enough
There was one thing that kept stopping us from pulling the trigger and building our home out in the country - schools, again. The school district that the dairy is in is, well, just plain awful and not a place we wanted to send Conner. So I started looking into district transfer rules. With the knowledge of the transfer rules and knowing the closest school district had plans to build a new charter school that will be focused on post-secondary readiness and will graduate you with an associates degree AND allow you to participate in the school district's athletic program, we made a decision.
It was our first decision all along.
We are going to make the dairy our home.
