Monster said:

If I ever move there, the first investment is season tickets to football and basketball. My wife would kill me, but it'd be worth it.

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My wife told me the first thing I would get is season tickets to basketball if we did move to Ann Arbor. She thinks that would be a huge help to my winter depression. She's definitely right. I'd be much happier if I could get out of the house and attend every home bball game.

TheVictors said:

...

I'm also very sensitive towards our son and uprooting him. To that end, in my wife's "plan," we wait until he's transitioning between Elementary and Middle School ...and my wife has a guaranteed teaching job in the AA schools if she wants it.

We have a connection.. ;-)

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I had the same thought process when deciding to move a couple years ago. My step-daughter just graduated and my step-son was finishing up 8th grade, so we viewed that as our window to make a move. For my wife and I, thinking rationally, it made sense that my step-son would be making a big transition either way. He would likely make completely new friends and would have to get used to new surroundings even if we stayed. The problem was, we were thinking rationally, rather than like a 14 year old boy. When the tears started flowing, that's when it sunk in. To him this was the end of the world, he was going to stay friends with his current buddies the rest of his life, and he was going to hate wherever we moved. Thinking back to when I was 14 I could totally empathize. But of course, it was still the right time to do it if it did in fact make sense to move (and it did, much better area to raise the kids and better career path) so while it sucked to see him sad we went through with it. It was a struggle for him early on, but now that he's gotten involved with cross country and made some friends he's doing better than ever.

All that said, IMO if the kids involved are younger, pull the trigger sooner than later. In your case by the time your boy hits the 5th or 6th grade he'll have cemented some true friendships (really, are there better friends than your 11/12 year old buddies?) and I'm sure he'll be totally wrapped up in sports. Tearing him away from all of that could make things much more difficult for everyone involved. Not to say that he doesn't already have friends and moving would be easy, but things aren't as fully formed yet. From my personal experience I moved in between 3rd and 4th grade, and the two years I spent at my new elementary were awesome. Anecdotal of course, but I'm pretty confident that those couple years would make a big difference.

Long story short, if that's the only/main reason why you'd push the move off, I'd take some time to seriously consider it.

deathroh said:

I had the same thought process when deciding to move a couple years ago. My step-daughter just graduated and my step-son was finishing up 8th grade, so we viewed that as our window to make a move. For my wife and I, thinking rationally, it made sense that my step-son would be making a big transition either way...

All that said, IMO if the kids involved are younger, pull the trigger sooner than later. In your case by the time your boy hits the 5th or 6th grade he'll have cemented some true friendships (really, are there better friends than your 11/12 year old buddies?) and I'm sure he'll be totally wrapped up in sports...

Long story short, if that's the only/main reason why you'd push the move off, I'd take some time to seriously consider it.

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I don't know...I think your "big transition either way" point might the point.

When I went from Wines to Forsythe in 7th grade (Forsythe was a Junior High back in those days) it was such a giant change as it was with new people and an entirely different school day schedule that had we moved to another town, I don't know how much difference that would have made. Same with the change from Forsythe to Pioneer.

And you said that things worked out fine for your step son, so...

So maybe waiting for the change of schools might be a good idea.

Monster said:

If I ever move there, the first investment is season tickets to football and basketball. My wife would kill me, but it'd be worth it.

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Yes, my wife used that as a selling point ...let my brother keep the Broncos tickets and we get Saturdays at MICHIGAN STADIUM. And fwiw, the buddy I mentioned moving to A2 from SF 'donated' money to the school and got 4x tickets on the 20yd line so I know it's possible.

The plan would be to move to A2 before my son would start 6th grade ...at Forsythe Middle School. And I will say that while moving to TC was rough at first, we moved before I started 7th grade there and something like 15 Elem schools fed into Jr High. Nobody knew I wasn't from TC until I told them.

For a minute I thought I was going to be really embarrassed...when I attended Forsythe Jr. High, it was spelt with an "e" at the end, and even though it's changed from 7-9 to 6-8, it's still spelt with an "e" at the end...

I'm posting from my parked rental car in LaJolla ...

TheVictors said:

I'm posting from my parked rental car in LaJolla ...

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Very cool...if you're doing voice recognition then your hand held probably defaults to what I think is probably the more common spelling of "Forsyth(e)"

A little bit on the namesake...

tinselwolverine said:

I don't know...I think your "big transition either way" point might the point.

When I went from Wines to Forsythe in 7th grade (Forsythe was a Junior High back in those days) it was such a giant change as it was with new people and an entirely different school day schedule that had we moved to another town, I don't know how much difference that would have made. Same with the change from Forsythe to Pioneer.

And you said that things worked out fine for your step son, so...

So maybe waiting for the change of schools might be a good idea.

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I agree that waiting would make the entry into the new school easier, but I'm just not sure it would be enough of an advantage to offset the negatives of leaving at that age rather than sooner. Of course each kid is going to handle things differently, so Vic will obviously be the best judge. Just tossing in my two cents

And though things are great now a year and a half later, it was a huge pain in the ass for quite a while. Comes with the territory when dealing with a moody teenager, but the move exacerbated things bigtime.

deathroh said:

I agree that waiting would make the entry into the new school easier, but I'm just not sure it would be enough of an advantage to offset the negatives of leaving at that age rather than sooner. Of course each kid is going to handle things differently, so Vic will obviously be the best judge. Just tossing in my two cents

And though things are great now a year and a half later, it was a huge pain in the ass for quite a while. Comes with the territory when dealing with a moody teenager, but the move exacerbated things bigtime.

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Besides the school aspect and friends, is family. My brother and sister and their respective families, my Mom/Stepdad and Mother in Law are all in Denver and nearby. While we only have one kid and he isn't that young any more, we'd be leaving family and having to travel to see them or have them visit and this, to me, is the biggest deal. My parents only moved from TC to Denver a few years ago to be closer to all of us, so I'm surprised that my wife is open to leaving her Mom and being so close to family. With that said, I do have an Aunt/Uncle and cousins in Michigan and friends whose families we know very well, although they're not actually family.

Thanks for the input ...been on my mind a lot these past days and going back and forth.

Ahhh yeah, that definitely makes it rough. Being away from family is the hardest thing in the long run.

deathroh said:

Ahhh yeah, that definitely makes it rough. Being away from family is the hardest thing in the long run.

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I think that's my 'line in the sand.' I can't imagine telling my Mom that we're leaving Colorado right after she moved back here. Another thing we've talked about is renting a place and spending time without moving. Also the possibility of renting our Denver house and moving, but not completely severing ties..

Move a little to the North- Maybe Dexter or Brighton.
Little Vic can finally meet his Uncle Rabid, and I can yank him around the lake on a tube. :tup:

I have your CTS-v and Mrs Vic's XT5 ready.

I spent a year in Nashville, and liked it a lot, but when the opportunity to move back to Michigan came up it was a no brainer. I loved growing up on the lake in Linden and coming back was in the back of my mind the whole time I was gone.

I also transitioned from Linden to Fenton in 5th grade. I do remember it being rather sucktastic, but since it was due to my parents getting divorced everything was pretty much shitty for a couple years.

The economy has rebounded and the weather has been nice. I think it averaged around 90 degrees this Summer, which was great on the lake... Not so much for working in the yard. Every summer seems to get hotter, and most Winters have had limited snowfall and mild temperatures, though we do still get those arctic blasts for a month or two.

My parents (both sets) have retired to FL, and my sisters moved to NC and GA. I still love it here. The Bighouse is better than ever since the add ons, and Harbaugh has brought us back to relevancy from the depths of richrod.
The stadium is louder and more fun than ever. We could use you there in place of some of the old biddies that still sit on their hands!

It's a tough decision Bro- I don't envy you, moving is a pain in the ass.
But if you come back... I still have the famous Bloodies recipe you sent me about 10 years ago, and I'll mix up a big batch to share with you. :cheers:

unrelated, but Rabid... the Urban Meyer quote in your signature is fucking awesome.

I love how the guy can spill his heart out like that so unequivocally, and yet not mean a single word he says.

michchamp said:

unrelated, but Rabid... the Urban Meyer quote in your signature is fucking awesome.

I love how the guy can spill his heart out like that so unequivocally, and yet not mean a single word he says.

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Oh sure- No "HEY RABID! GOOD TO SEE YOU!" just "hey, thinking about stealing your sig." >

RABID said:

Oh sure- No "HEY RABID! GOOD TO SEE YOU!" just "hey, thinking about stealing your sig." >

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Hey, Rabid, good to see you.

michchamp said:

Hey, Rabid, good to see you.

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Now that's just gratuitous ..

TheVictors said:

I think that's my 'line in the sand.' I can't imagine telling my Mom that we're leaving Colorado right after she moved back here. Another thing we've talked about is renting a place and spending time without moving. Also the possibility of renting our Denver house and moving, but not completely severing ties..

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the roads are way bumpier in SEMICH than I-25 in Denver, like 97.5% bumpier

twentythree said:

the roads are way bumpier in SEMICH than I-25 in Denver, like 97.5% bumpier

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Tremendous input, 23. Especially coming from a highway, you'd know.

Sorry, man. I should really watch out how many times I post negative things.