Happy Pride month!
Yep, you read right. After trying for a very long time to get the hell out of Ohio, it’s finally happening.
Next month we’re moving to the DC area.
Yesterday I accepted an employment offer for a job located in northern Virginia in the Washington, DC suburbs. Now my husband Greg and I have just a few weeks to get over there and find an apartment to rent.
We have to make some choices about where to live. Should we live in Virginia where our marriage will not be recognized, but where I’ll be close to work?
Should we live in Maryland where our marriage would be recognized by executive order from the governor and may possibly be rescinded by the voters in November, but where I’ll have to commute through the DC traffic nightmare?
Or should we live in DC where our marriage will be recognized and I’ll have to commute, but where the cost of living may be prohibitively high?
Anybody have some good advice for us?
Wow! Very exciting!! I’m so happy for you!
Congrats on the new opportunity.
I’d vote for DC (but that’s just me). Recognition of your marriage is important and honoring it makes a difference.
Congrats! I know you both must be very happy about this.
I’d suggest moving wherever you feel most comfortable living.
Happiness is key.
Dc won’t much more expensive than norther VA (NOVA). Make sure you know the time and direction of your commute. In DA bc of the military, rush hour is really from 6-9am and 3-7pm in almost all directions. The metro is not cheap (even without parking) and can take longer than driving – but the system has full cell service and some wifi.
Check with Joe O’Hara
http://www.joeandsusangroup.com/
We were friends years ago and his husband was one of my bf’s. Great guy and agent.
Yay!!! your commute will suck no matter where you live in DC Metro… Personally, I would want to live close to where I work regardless of what each state or DC laws are… let’s face it… Supreme Court will make gay marriage legal nation wide in next couple of years… just make sure if you live in VA, you have all your legal documents done…Power of attorney, will, etc… NOVA is very gay friendly… again, just my opinion…
investigate METRO (how close the trains and buses come to your workplace). there will be a trade-off in time (driving vs metro). if the beltway is gridlocked in all directions, you’re fucked!
spouse and I lived in springfield for 10 years; I also lived in alexandria, reston, and sterling. and no matter whether you choose DC, MD, or VA, it’s hella expensive! would I ever move back there? OH HELLZ NO!
but so many hugs and congrats on your moving closer to kelly and me! perhaps I can trade in those 2 prize certificates I have (wink wink nudge nudge).
I have no advice; just wanted to dump a load of congratulations all over you!
If by “dump” you mean “spurt”, I’ll take it!!
Dump, Spurt, Tomato, Tomahto
ummmmmm
at least where I grew up and learned teh lingo … “dump” had a very different connotation from “spurt”
Here, have a SPLOOSH!
Great news! Good luck with the house hunting. Be sure to keep us posted!
Goodness! A seismic shift in your life – and it MUST be for the better! (Though I fully appreciate your heart-rending dilemma.) I’m sure you’ll keep us in the know as things develop. Meantime, you carry the best possible assured good wishes of all your blog-pals. Tons of good luck to you!
Congratulations! I have no advice to give you unfortunately since I’ve never been and I don’t know the areas you mention! It all sounds very exciting though. An adventure you start… xxx
I offer congrats, but I don’t envy you. Don’t think I am a city guy at all – as they say, nice to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. I vote for the shortest commute time – after all, life is too short to spend half of it in traffic. Best wishes to both of you.
Congrats on an exciting adventure! At least you’re closer on the East Coast and I can take Amtrak down to DC for a visit!
Congratulations on the job that will take you away from us!
Yeah, you detect a note of bitter irony there
I think I told you that Sean and Amy will be staying at a hotel in Crystal City. The more I look at the website for that community, the more intriguing it seems. I wonder what rent is like there … it’s right on the Blue line, and it sounds like you could find everything you’ll need for day to day living within the connected buildings. Never have to go outdoors in Winter! oh wait, that’s *my* idea of paradise …
Have you thought of asking Tom and Michael what the cost of living is in their neighborhood? I think they’re in an older neighborhood, up in the NW quadrant?
So happy for you! I fell in love with DC a few years ago. Consider me jealous!
Just to clarify on Maryland, your marriage isn’t up for a vote this November. That vote is only on whether marriages can be performed in the state, not whether they’re recognized. No matter how the vote goes, you’re on (relatively) solid ground, with three judicial decisions on the side of fairness in the past three years. [more] Also, in-state marriage was approved by the legislature, not by executive order.
Isn’t it stupid that we have to know these things? Here’s a handy interactive chart of state-by-state LGBT legal protections put together by The Guardian.
Whichever you choose, I’m so excited that you’re making the move!
I knew if I turned my back on the blog world for a week, all heck would break loose. I want to join the conga line of congratulations and wish you two the best!
Congratulations! I know nothing of either place, so I suggest using the pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey method.
Thanks everyone! We made the decision that we’ll live in Virginia. In fact we are leaving today to go to Alexandria to find an apartment. Wish us luck.
Congrats! Sounds like quite the adventure.
Cubby – We’re in the process of leaving Ohio, too, but for Baltimore. Our primary reason is my partner’s job transfer, but a strong secondary reason is that we’re fed up with Ohio’s asshat politics and the assholes who control it.
We should get together for a drink once the dust settles.
Stu
The Cool Cookie
This sounds so exciting, Cubby
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