Flashbacks

The Big Move

Brittany's husband, Jonathan, had just been offered the opportunity of a lifetime to work for a gigantic law firm in New York City. Jonathan is a corporate lawyer, and Brittany and Jonathan thought New York would be the perfect place for him to garner even more success for his career. They also thought it would be the perfect place to settle down and start a family.

Brittany was currently unemployed, but she had options for when she decided to go join the workforce again. She was still getting money from her memoir about finding out she was a genius mathematician when she was young. Since that discovery, she had spent time working with NASA, world renowned scientists, and even some politicians. Her demand exceeded her ability to keep up with that demand. She was glad her and Jonathan were making this big move for themselves and that her only task at the moment was to take care of herself and the child they were planning to have. She did not mind the idea of being a stay at home mom at all—at least for a few years. Brittany knew it was not something she could do forever, but if her and her family were financially stable, she could really enjoy being a housewife and a stay at home mother.

"Brit, what are you thinking about?" asked Jonathan from the other side of their bedroom. He was finishing packing up a box of their things and had noticed that Brittany had been sitting staring at the wall for a while.

Brittany turned to Jonathan. She enjoyed watching how his arms moved in his tight white t-shirt as he moved materials into the box. Brittany also loved when Jonathan wore white. The color looked really good on his tan Puerto Rican skin. It never looked as great against her pasty white complexion. In general, Brittany felt that Jonathan had a better sense of style than her. Or, she at least thought his clothing choices always seemed to show her up because he knew what looked well on his body. Ever since graduating high school, she had kind of lost touch with fashion trends and caring about her appearance when it came to clothing.

"Oh nothing," replied Brittany, remembering Jonathan had asked her a question. "I'm just really excited about this move."

Jonathan smiled at Brittany. "Me too, babe. I'm excited about the move, but I am really excited about our plans for once we are in New York. Are you sure you won't be bored?"

Brittany walked over near Jonathan and sat next to him on the bed. She put a hand on his thigh and looked at him seriously.

"John, I want this for you. And I want this for us. I know I have a history of being the one with job opportunities, but I am excited for this change. I promise I will not be bored at all. This might be an opportunity for me to discover some hobbies I enjoy or actually make friends who are not nerdy engineers. Right now, I am absolutely fantasizing about just walking around Central Park with a bunch of mom friends I found at yoga class or something."

Jonathan leaned over to kiss his wife on the cheek. He loved her patience with him and their life, and he also loved that she never made him feel unequal in their relationship, even though Brittany definitely was the smarter and kinder of the two of them.

"I love you so much," he said.

Brittany kissed him back. "I love you too."

"Should we finish packing?"

"Definitely. The movers will be here tomorrow. We don't want to make their jobs even more difficult."

"Agreed," said Jonathan.
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It was now June, and Jonathan and Brittany had been getting accustomed to living in their small one bedroom apartment in New York City. Even with their fairly substantial income, they decided it was smarter to save as much money as they could so that they would have more resources to raise their future children. New York City housing was also a lot more expensive than where they used to live in Mansfield, Ohio.