ANNOUNCEMENT:

(The post that follows was actually written almost one month ago...but we decided it was in everyone's best interest to tell people in person what you are about to read, rather than have people read it here for the first time)

May 2, 2008

Dear Friends and Family:

The biggest reason for my lack of posting of late has been a commitment of all time not dedicated to family and work being spent on trying to obtain gainful employment at a new facility. Before I continue on about the process over the last 3 weeks, some things need to be said. And although many of you may already know the thoughts and emotions that we (as a family) have regarding a potential move, they are still worth typing out:

Christine loves NJ. No ifs, ands or buts about it. She loves it here. Admittedly, Keith prefers more of an "outdoorsy" environment (for his fishing and cycling), but he has made his home in NJ because that is where Christine has been happy...and he is happy with her. Initially after graduating from college (2001), Christine wanted to remain "rooted" in NJ, because that is where a handful of very close friends from high school still resided, and of course her family is here too. But over the years, our roots have grown deeper than either of us could have possibly imagined. We have both been blessed and fortunate enough to develop a social network of friends who are just absolutely amazing people. As this very blog has demonstrated from Austin's birth through his Christening, we are surrounded by so much love, caring and devotion from such a large group of people....well, it is truly indescribable.

But for Austin...we have always said that when we had a child, we want more for them (now him) than what we have provided to ourselves to date. We want him to grow up in a house where each child has their own bedroom. We want him to have a yard to play catch with Mom/Dad in and a driveway that he can learn to ride his bike in. As he grows older, we want to live in a neighborhood where we don't fear cars zooming by at ridiculous speeds and endangering his life. We want to afford Austin the opportunity to grow up with a family pet that will interact with him (no, Moxy does NOT meet those needs...but a dog will), and give that family pooch enough yard and space to be happy too. And there are a variety of other things that we want to provide for Austin as well...the most important of those being a mother who has an opportunity to stay home all day long and be there to help nurture, support, and raise him the way that we deem appropriate, not a day care center. Unfortunately, those goals are ones that simply cannot be met by our continuing to reside in the tri-state area.

So...with those thoughts in mind, and the recent addition of Austin to our lives, we decided it was time to try to see what the job market had to offer and discover whether or not it was feasible to move out of our small one bedroom apartment that we are quickly outgrowing, or if we needed to stick around and save for another year.

Just before the Christening, I sent out 12 resumes to facilities that had actual job openings, no cold calls/letters...all people who were looking for a physical therapist to join their staff in the near future. All resumes were faxed, emailed and mailed on Wednesday, April 9th. Within one week, I had scheduled 8 interviews (7 in in 3 days), and arranged to take Monday (the 21st) through Wednesday off from Achieve to go see what the market would bear. After my first interview on Saturday morning (ugh, a day trip to Syracuse and back), I had my first job offer. Sunday night I drove into Utica to stay with Kevin and Peggy for the early part of the week. I had 2 interviews on Monday, 4 on Tuesday, and 1 on Wednesday prior to returning back to NJ to visit Christine and Austin (who I missed dearly).

By Monday, April 28th, I had 6 official job offers on the table...and we had some significant decision making to complete. To be fair, there were only 2 offers that we thought we could consider financially, and I really only felt as though one of them would be a good fit for me professionally. After a couple conversations with our certified financial planner (Tom Weber--I recommend him to anyone, great guy, email him if you don't already have someone helping you out) and some very emotional conversations...we decided that we would accept the offer and begin the process of moving away from NJ. Therefore, starting July 1, 2008, I will be a staff PT for Mary Lou Corcoran Physical and Aquatic Therapy in Fayetteville, NY.

This has been an incredibly difficult decision for us to make, and we hope that no one takes our decision to move away personally, or harbors any resentment, because that is the last thing that we ever want and couldn't be farther from our intentions. Unfortunately, as much as we love the people that we have grown so close to here over the years, the time has come for us to try to "spread our wings" and transition to yet another exciting, yet scary chapter of our lives...home ownership and dedicated, full-time parenthood while learning a new area and developing a new social network with new friends and acquaintances.

Understandably, this is likely to be a more stressful and scary time for Christine than it will be for me, but she continues to be an inspiration: the most selfless person that I have ever met. It is easy to say that you want to be someone or do something, but it is a whole different thing to pick yourself up and leave your career behind to fulfill your dreams of being the mother that you always wanted to be or move away from the only place that you ever called home to give your child the opportunities that you couldn't afford otherwise. In making the decisions that she has, Christine is not only proving to be selfless, but strong and courageous as well.

I know that there will be those detractors that think that, by moving North, I (personally) have everything to gain, while Christine has everything to lose by our move. After all, I never loved NJ anyway, and we are actually moving closer to my family. I would have to say to those people, however, that they couldn't more wrong. Christine may shed more tears, but she won't miss her colleagues more than I miss my own. She won't miss the boys at Achieve as much as I already do. She won't miss seeing the Hammerle kids (including our god-daughter, still an awesome honor) every weekend any more than I will. She won't miss that afternoon hug from Joelle. She won't go into work everyday wishing that the walls were more familiar, and instinctively answer the phone "Achieve Sports Medicine, this is Keith speaking," by accident (even though that office will be 200+ miles away). I will. Oh, don't get me wrong, Christine is going to miss a lot too, and I understand that. This is a huge thing for her to go through....she has more friends here, more family, deeper roots in the community, and a successful career. There are so many things, she has to give up...all in an effort to give Austin everything she (we) thinks he deserves.

But that is why I ask this of everyone from Georgia to Massachusetts and Long Island to California...please help us, and especially Christine through this very difficult, yet exciting time. We need as much support as our loved ones can offer to help bolster us up and provide us with all strength that you have always provided us. Please understand, as sad as you may be that we are leaving...we feel as sad, or even more. As angry as you may be that we are leaving you behind...we long even more to maintain the bonds we have created over all these years and remain as close as ever (even if the mileage in between us greater). We are going to miss you all...so, so much.

We plan to be back in NJ often, and our doors will always be open to company/visitors even wider in NY than they have been in NJ---it is only a 3 hour drive, and if you prefer, there is a train station about 15-20 minutes away that we will happily pick up people at if they choose to visit. We plan to have a dedicated guest room in the new home (wherever that may be), just for those purposes.

Certainly, there will be more to say as the days move forward, but I wanted to take this opportunity to type out my thoughts a little bit...in case I don't get the chance to say it in person.

Thanks for reading....

Love,
Keith