We’ve had quite a month and a half – got married in a comical yet sweet ceremony at city hall; applied for the uncommon male’s green card; on my one month’s wedding anniversary, my company went out of business and the list goes on and on. Needless to say, it has been a stressful time and not really the marital bliss in terms of events that most newlyweds would have liked to have after their wedding. We’ve yet to have our honeymoon and it probably won’t come any time in the near future. However, I am consoled by the fact that when we first met each other, we had basically a month of traveling and beach hopping in the Philippines and Vietnam.

Last night was the first time we really started to look at all the options that we have given my new found freedom to be wherever, whenever. We’ve talked about the three places that we’d want to live, New York, London and San Francisco. There are of course pluses and minuses to each and we had always thought that the decision will be made by the location of my next job. However, there is always the question of when will our careers get in sync? The uncommon male is currently working out of Washington DC and I will be joining him down there for the next three months while we sublet our New York apartment.

In this economy, can you move a family, granted it’s only the uncommon male and me, for a new job? How long will it take for the other person to find a new job and how secure is one’s current job?

I was lucky to have survived the 2000-2001 lay-offs unscathed even though I worked for an Internet consulting firm and most Internet consulting firms went out of business during that time frame. I’m not quite as lucky this year but it is an experience I will remember for awhile. It is something which I have never experienced before to walk into work one day and within the hour find out that that company will soon no longer be in operation. It is an overwhelming sense of loss and feeling lost. My poor friend Joanna came back on her honeymoon and ended up on IM with me through that morning’s shock.

Unlike others who may be tied to a location because their siblings or parents are there or who knows that they have to live in New York because it’s home or the most exciting place ever, we’re not really sure home has to be one specific location except that we are together.  D.C. isn’t an obvious choice either for many reasons.

Although we’ve always had two careers in mind, this is the first time we’ve seen how unclear it can be to balance two careers with the choice to decide where those careers will take place.  Can too much freedom be just as frustrating as having little or none?