Peggy is in Dallas visiting her Mama. I am not.

I was in Baton Rouge today visiting my son and his fiancée.

Well, that is not the whole truth. I have actually been in Baton Rouge today meeting with a potential employer. On the way out of town I had dinner with Mike to make sure he was OK with Mama and Daddy potentially moving to Baton Rouge. He was not against the idea, so that excuse for not taking the job is gone.

They’re going to offer me the job. My conversations with the CEO were too specific for it to mean anything else. They even had me interview with the two vice presidents who would be reporting to me. Everything went really well.

I have to admit I was hoping not to like the people and not to like the company. I really love the company I work for. I mean, I really love the company I work for. I have a great relationship with the CEO, though I have to be careful to include my immediate boss in any communication with the CEO. But the company is one of the best in the world at what we do and one of the most financially sound insurance companies in the world.

So why did I take the meeting? Baton Rouge is certainly a large part of the reason. Other than my brother in San Antonio, every member of my family lives within a couple of hours of Baton Rouge. My father will be only ninety minutes away instead of eight hours, and at 81 that is something to consider. Mike lives there, and he will be getting married there in March. And financially speaking, this company might be one of the very few that is in a stronger capital position than my current employer.

Now the real conversations start. Are they going to offer enough to make it worth considering? Is the job they want me to do something I can see myself doing for the next ten years? Do I really want to make Peggy move again when we have only been in Austin for six months?

I nailed it today, so now we have to actually start thinking about this stuff.

As I was in the airport waiting to board the plane, I received this picture:

I don’t think there was a message in the picture or in the timing, but it is certainly something else we have to consider. Moving closer to my father means moving farther away from Peggy’s mother. Who has Alzheimer’s. Peggy will still have to travel to Dallas a couple of times each month to visit and check on her. That will be a lot tougher from Baton Rouge.

We will both be home tonight. And the conversations can begin.

As my father always says, “It’s hell being popular.”