rex.burg.

I am done with Rexburg. For the second time in my life.

I came up to Rexburg to attend Ricks College...and then graduated from BYU-Idaho. (But that is another story for another time.)

Anyway, I really enjoyed my Ricks/BYUI days...even if that meant making my own fun. (I will never forget making that "pie" for our FHE brothers; and them calling us to thank us for it...and I actually believed that they had eaten it! Oh heavens! Do you remember that Anna? Coretta? Were you there for that, Dee?) Clearly, I had some good times in "the 'burg."

But...2 years in south-east Idaho felt like a lot. Especially when I was without a car, and I knew I was going on to bigger and better things. (Namely, USU and their Communicative Disorders program.)

So I did it. I moved to the thriving metropolis that is Logan, Utah, and fell in love with the school and my life there.

4 years (and 2 degrees) later, I found myself living at home, sponging off my parents for a couple of months, trying to figure out where I'd go to find gainful employment...perhaps I'd find a killer job in SLC? -I had been thinking about actually going out and looking for a job--nay, a career--for approximately 24 hours when I got a phone call from one of my advisors at USU. I was told of a man (one Matt Stevens) who was looking for some people to hire as SLPs at his private practice in Idaho Falls.

Roughly 2 hours later, I met with this Matt fellow on USU campus to interview and discuss the goings-on of his business. He told me that his practice was in Idaho Falls. (It was NOT lost on me that Idaho Falls is in SE Idaho...the very same SE Idaho I was certain, 50 months earlier, that I was forever done with.) Anyway, Matt told me of the pros and cons of working in a private practice, and so on and so forth.

And then he offered me the job. Just. Like. That.

I told him that I needed to think about it, but I'd be in touch.

Honestly? It sounded too good to be true. And SE Idaho didn't sound too bad. Especially because I'd be in Idaho Falls, which is not the same as Rexburg. At all.

Anyway, I talked it over with my parents. Prayed. Went to the Temple. It all seemed too easy. (Remember: this was my first interview.) I felt like maybe I had my answer, but the fact that it was all happening so very easily was holding me back. Finally my mother, in her infinite wisdom, said, "Maybe it's happening so easily because it's right. After all, you've worked your butt off in grad school. Maybe Heavenly Father wants to bless you with finding work easily." (That isn't actually a direct quote; I'm fairly certain that my mom didn't say "worked your butt off." But the quoted text was the gist of what she said.)

Obviously I took the job. I moved to Idaho Falls and had a real easy time finding a place to live and finding a place to fit in.

Wow...this has turned into something longer than I had intended.

Moving on.

In accepting said job, I came to Rexburg twice a week to work at the office there. And I did it without any qualms. I rather enjoyed it, honestly. Rexburg had changed quite a bit since I had left there 4 years earlier. And I really enjoyed my clients there. A lot.

Still do, as a matter of fact.

But driving to Rexburg...especially in the winter months...is not my favorite past-time.

This past June, I worked it out so I could come to Rexburg just once a week. Tuesday being that day.

Today is Tuesday.

And it's my last day here.

Another therapist here in the Rexburg clinic told me that she had some available time slots, and she was willing and able to take over my clients. (We had talked about my hopes of one day working in IF only. Mostly to save myself some time--that's at least an hour a week; to save some money on gas--I realize prices have dropped, but for how long, really?; and also to save some wear and tear on my car.)

So. That's what I'm doing. Handing over the reins to someone else. Taking on some new clients in Idaho Falls (to fill up my now-empty Tuesdays).

I was nuttin' but excited after talking to my co-worker last Friday. But then I made some phone calls yesterday to talk to the parents of my clients. And my heart started hurting a bit. I've had a few of these clients for as long as I've been working here. I've bonded with them, and saying goodbye is sad.

Overall, it's a good thing.

But I sure am grateful for the opportunity I've had to return to Rexburg, to see it in a different light, and to work with my amazing little clients from this community.

And now I say...au dieu, little Rexburg...