North versus South

I have lived on the southern end of Nevada my entire life. I did live on the northern end for three years in my twenties. My dads family is from the northern end. I have spent my life traveling back and forth for visits.

My husband and I have spent almost our entire marriage treating this end as a temporary thing. Saying we would move north when we could. We have always made friends easily enough but knew they would be temporary. Knowing we would move north soon. Our last house was treated as temporary as is this one. That is the way it has been until about ten months ago. I finally decided it was time to settle in. The children are involved in their things, the girls in girl scouts. The boys have their friends and activities. My dad came to live with us seven months ago and discussion of moving north came up again. I tried to ignore it. We have people here we love, activities, a life. The problem is we hate this end of the state but love so many people here. The traffic is a nightmare getting from one side of town to the other can take over an hour. Just three years ago it took twenty minutes at the most. Crime is going up yearly. We just had a purse snatcher jump our wall. His mistake was I was outside with my kids. I picked up a piece of re-bar and told him to go right back where he came from. He dropped the purse into the backyard. The dogs made quick work of it. The heat is a bit too much for us too. Still hitting 100's in September.

On the other hand. We think we like the cold better but lets face it we don't know. I haven't live up north in twenty years. We think 54 is cold. I read where the fog froze right in the air in one area up north. OMG! Fog can freeze? The northern end still has a smaller town feeling and very nice people. These are not however "our" people. Hubby is a state employee so he can transfer. He is testing for Department of Safety, still a state job. Snow is another issue. I have not driven in snow in years my husband has never driven in it. I have a son getting to driving age. Do I dare turn him loose in the snow? This will mean new warmer clothes, lets face it no way our "winter clothes" will ever make it in an area that gets below 0.

The kids have very mixed feelings. What about friends? How will we get to know people? Can we really play in the snow? Can we still be home schooled there? Will the dogs get lost in the snow? Can we have our own rooms? Can we have a club house? Can we ride our bikes? (This is something we no longer allow due to traffic.)

It comes down to North versus South, up versus down. Do we really want to pack the belongings of nine people and move?