The Crunchy Couple Buys a House, Part 1: Justification

Crunchy Husband and I have decided to take a big leap of faith and buy a house.  What are we thinking?

Some call us crazy, for multiple reasons.  First of all, I only have a year left of graduate school.  Do I plan on moving out into the big brave world to job hunt in the Pharmaceutical Sciences all over God's green earth?  No.  In fact, I plan on finding a job right here, in North Central West Virginia.  I will do just that, even if it means I have to answer phones and play secretary for a mere $30,000/year when I could be starting at $90k at some Californian biotech firm.

Why turn down the money?  Well, there are many explanations for our insanity, but it all boils down to these four reasons.

First of all, we love Morgantown.  It is one of the best "big" little cities I have ever had the privilege of visiting, let alone living in.  This town really is a community, and compared to the rest of WV, it has a small town charm in a big place.  It's amazing.

Second of all, we want to be close to our families... but not TOO close.  My mom is a widow, and is getting old (sorry, Mom, just giving the facts).  Not only do we want to be there for her, but we NEED to be there for her, even if it's for the limited amount of "spare" time we have.  Also, my in-laws probably wouldn't approve of us moving a million miles away.  If I remember correctly, when Noel and I first were married or engaged, my MIL said something along the lines of "No one will move my grand babies that far away from me".  At first, I thought she was crazy for even bringing that up before we had even really thought about having kids, but then I thought about my Mom, who has two grand kids, but they're all the way on the West coast.  And that kills her sometimes.  If I were in my mother/MIL's shoes, I wouldn't want anyone to move my grand babies that far away from me, either.

Given that scenario, we also don't want to live in the same town as our parents/in-laws.  Any one who does either has THE perfect relationship with their parents (which I promise you, doesn't exist unless...), or they're bat crap crazy.

Thirdly,  CH has a good job.  He doesn't love it enough to work in the same position for the rest of his life, but he likes it enough that he would like to move up in the company and the money is nice.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes he comes home with his grumpy "work sucks and people are stupid" tantrums, but for the most part, he can't deny that he gets a satisfaction out of doing what he does.  Staying in the area will help  him get chances of escalating his position or being competitive for similar careers.  Plus, he's got some credit hours left to get his Mechanical Engineering degree, and I'll be d***ed if he's going to use the "you made me move to a different state, so I couldn't complete my degree" excuse.  Lord knows there are a million more excuses to go along with that!

Lastly, and most importantly, in my opinion... this state needs educated people, and there are a lot of opportunities in Morgantown.  With all the "Buckwild", hillbilly, redneck, and just plain ignorant nonsense floating around and involving this beautiful state, it NEEDS people with higher degrees and earning potential.  People who are willing to stay here, set down roots, develop technologies here, become entrepreneurs, help to educate other residents, and most of all, change the way "outsiders" view West Virginia and its people.  I have been to a LOT of extremely rural WV towns, but I have never seen the idiocy that is portrayed about our state in the national media outlets.  And that, my friends, needs to change.  If those people would just come here and see the beautiful mountains and actually talk to its people and learn about its history without judgement, they would see they have a completely skewed view of what WV is like.  Also, we need to put WV on the map and make people learn their high school geography so they quit calling us "Western Virginia".  Let's goooooooooo MOUNTAINEERS!

So, have  you settled down yet?  If so, why did you choose the place you did?  Was it for family, for money, for convenience?  I want to HEAR from you!  I KNOW people read this thing because I've had almost 600 legitimate views in less than 6 months!  Talk to me, people!  Let's have a conversation!