March 2012: Decision to Move

I think in the back of our minds, we had always thought that if there were an opportunity to get back to Colorado, we would prefer to raise our kids there...and be near our siblings (Mark and I both have brothers and 6 nieces and nephews in the Denver/Colorado Springs area). But, as life takes over it gets more complicated, and the idea of moving without a relo package, uprooting the kids, uprooting my mom's job and home in The Woodlands, and having Mark commute wasn't desireable. I didn’t want to take another corporate job (and relocation isn’t guaranteed by any means these days), and Continental’s bases were Houston, Cleveland and Newark. The other thing we knew is that we never wanted Mark to commute….so we would live in a city where there was a base. And, we were happy in The Woodlands.

While United and Continental announced a merger in 2010, and Continental's "last flight" as "Continental" was in March 2012, the pilot groups are not yet merged. At is turns out, this was beneficial for us! For a few months, there had been rumors of a Denver Continental base, but in this industry, rumors come and go and you can't really count on anything until it happens. In early March, United announced they were opening a small 737 (Mark's plane) base in Denver flying Continental's 737 planes. There were 2 opportunities or “snapshots” for pilots to see where they might fall on the bid, based on seniority. On both snapshots, Mark was holding Denver. The panic/excitement set in. We didn’t what to share too much with friends, not knowing the final outcome, but we did share this with our good friends, Scott and Lisa. Also, we were sharing a house with them in Wimberely, TX for Spring Break, and couldn’t help talking about it! We were so sad about the thought of losing the close friendship we have with them and all the good times at cabins, lakes, rivers, garages, parks, pools, concerts and everything else. But, Colorado was also pulling us, and we had an opportunity for a transfer, and because it is considered a "new base" for Continental, the company paid relocation (partial, as it turns out, because we have WAY too much stuff). We finally found out on March 15 that for sure….Mark’s name was on the bid and we would be moving. Mark was #21 out of 35 First Officers that would open the Continental base in Denver. Wow!

I know we all had such mixed feelings that weekend…..our last relaxing vacation week with our closest Houston friends and the kids….they have always been in each other’s lives. We made the most of it…despite passing a stomach bug around for the week, and me crying my share of tears.

From that point on, we knew it would only get crazy...but we couldn't know just how busy the next few months would be.

The last week of March was filled with telling the kids and family, friends, interviewing realtors and accepting that we would be leaving The Woodlands where we were happy, had a nice house, kids had settled into school, activities and friends, we had a network of supportive friends and I had my business.