It was a hard decision. I finished the course work for the Ph.D. in spring 2005 and then essentially did nothing else towards my degree for two years. I made a reading list and I did some reading on it, but I didn't even attempt to pass either of my comps or do any writing on my dissertation. And I honestly, really didn't want to. I just felt done with it, but I was still in the department accomplishing nothing. My husband had/has a lot of resentment toward me because we're in this tiny town where he can't really get a job and I'm not doing what I was here to do. So all around for our family it was the best decision for me to actually get a real job and stop languishing in the department and move somewhere that's gonna be better for him employmentwise. This may sound like Josh was being mean or something, but really no. He has every right to be resentful. This year marks the first time since Emma was born that he's only had to work one job at the time. The first year of her life he worked three. And while I always pulled my weight financially (at the end of the year we usually end up making relatively the same amount), being a student left me with lots of down time or months over the summer where I wasn't drawing any income and it wore on him. /tmi

Thanks for the luck, sweetie. *puts on her ass kicking shoes*