Oregon?? What happened to Denver?

Many of you are probably asking yourself What is going on with John and Stacey? OR Why are they moving to Oregon? OR MAYBE What are the details? and some of you might be saying Who are John and Stacey? Maybe we should start with the last question first - a couple of crazy people that are leaving Rockies-land and great weather, sunshine to go to Oregon where it rains in the winter. I was offered a job to manage a law firm in Salem Oregon. The firm is called Saalfield Griggs and has 25 attorneys and 50 total staff members - a far cry from the 5 attorneys and 15 total staff members I currently manage. I applied for the job and after several phone interviews, an assessment test, and them calling my references, they flew me out to Salem to check out the firm and the area. I had Stacey come with me because I knew that I could not make a decision without her input. We went out on Sunday and spent the day checking out the area. That evening Stacey and I had dinner with 3 of the partners of the firm. We had a nice relaxing dinner with them. The next morning, I went to the firm and spent the morning visiting with 7 different attorneys - each of them interviewing me. After that, I went to lunch with 4 partners of the firm and spent most of the lunch with one attorney interviewing me. After lunch, I interviewed with 4 partners (3 which we had dinner with the night before) for about 2 hours. Then, spent some one-on-one time with the Managing Partner of the firm. Stacey spent the day going around with a couple of the attorneys' wives checking out the area. After the interview, the Managing Partner told me that there was one other candidate that they had to interview the following day and that they would get back to me in a few days. Well, apparently they liked me or something, because they called me back on Tuesday at 5 pm and offered me the job. I asked them for a few days to think about it as we were unsure as what we wanted to do. I knew the firm was the perfect fit for me and loved the whole set-up of the firm, but moving to Oregon was a big proposition. I called the Managing Partner on Thursday night with a counter offer. They accepted the counter offer and I accepted the job. The job is a huge raise on top of them paying for my insurance, which is another huge savings. The biggest part is that I will be managing a large firm and gain huge experience, as well as possibly have the opportunity to spend the rest of my career with this firm. One of the things I negotiated was the starting date - they wanted me to start mid-November, but with so many things going on and me wanting to give my current firm some time to find a replacement, they said that I could start any time but I will most likely be starting by Dec. 7th. Crazy to think that we are leaving Denver, but this is a great opportunity and once again we are packing up and heading to another state. We have spent the past couple of weeks packing up the house and getting it ready to sell and we are finally getting some breathing room. Everything is starting to settle in yet so many things are still up in the air. Stacey and I are heading out to Oregon again next weekend for an attorney retreat and to also look at the area. Hope we get to see some of you in Oregon soon. But don't worry....We will still be Rockies fans....