If, then

"If, then..." statements are one of the more important statements in educational training. They are an important element in mathematics and language, philosophy and science.
For us, the "if, then" statements are the defining concept of the next six months of our lives. There are quite a few things we do know for sure: we're holding our wedding June 11, we're going to the Electric Forest Festival in Rothbury, Michigan, for our honeymoon. We're attending the Burn with a group of friends and putting together a theme camp called The Tough Love Lounge. We know life is good, we love each other, and Orion is a wonderful little guy. We don't really need more than that! Which is fortunate, because everything else is a big IF (then...)
IF Russell gets into the MBA program at Dominican, THEN I'll transfer to a Trader Joe's in the area, and we'll move to the North Bay Area. I'm hoping this is what happens more than anything else.
IF I get into the Masters of Scenography at HSU, THEN Russell will find a job in the area and we'll move to Arcata/Eureka California.
IF both of us get into school, THEN I'll politely defer and we'll go to San Rafael.
IF neither of us get into school, THEN we'll take a look at towns on the West Coast, find a spot where we can both get jobs, and head out there - probably a bit later in the summer than we would need to if we get into school.
IF it works out, THEN we'll go to the Electric Forest Festival and then head across the Northern U.S. to Washington, then head down the coast to our destination - and new home town!
IF we're already living on the West Coast, THEN getting to the Burn is that much easier!
It's all going to happen so quickly - but the first step is hearing back from the two schools we applied to. If need be, we'll fly out there for a weekend to do some interviews and trek around a bit, find the right spot for us, rent a house, etc. etc.
Actually, I hope we can find a big studio or even warehouse style living space that we can turn in half living space, half work space. That would be incredible!
Waiting in the hardest part, for sure. We should know by April about the masters programs, and then the real decision making starts. In the meantime, we need to get rid of as much stuff as possible. I'm attending a clothing swap next Friday, and I plan to unload most of my wardrobe. Almost none of it fits, anyway. In April we'll have to hold a big yard sale and ditch most of the furniture and 'stuff' stuff... I'm really looking forward to getting rid of some of the weight we've carried for so long. All this just isn't that necessary. And the money coming in from the sale of the items will certainly help with the move.
On that note, if you're attending the wedding, please don't be offended that we're asking people NOT to buy us STUFF! We don't need it - if you really feel the need to get us something, gift cards or gas cards or simple cold, hard, cash would be most appreciated. I sincerely hope no one is offended by that; it's too bad that 'tradition' doesn't really allow for realism when it comes to wedding gifts.
And that's the news today - a whole lot of "IF's" that will eventually whittle down to a few solid "THEN's". Wish us luck!