A big move

This is a long story.

A big change is coming for us, we've decided to move across the country to a little coastal town, Brookings, OR.  This has come as a shock to our friends and family.  Anil has a stable job, I have a stable job, we live near loving family, we own a sweet little home in a great area of Charlotte.
What caused this?  What would make a family pack everything up to move across the country on what seems like a whim?
Here's where the story gets long,
Anil and I got married in August 2006, that week we officially moved to Boston, Anil started dental school 1 week later.  After a few years we decided to have, what may be called a poorly planned pregnancy.  Mala was born during Anil's 3rd year of dental school (come to find out that would be his most stressful year of school).  During my pregnancy I decided I needed to be the best I could be as a role model for my daughter and that if I didn't go back to school for my Master's at that time I never would.  So when Mala was 3 months old I started grad school.  Anil and I worked hard.  Playing mom and dad from 7am to 7:30pm then drinking coffee at baby's bedtime to play student.  A few years later, we moved to Charlotte, Anil started residency.  Anil threw his whole self into residency and was typically exhausted in the evenings and weekends.  I continued school, starting clinicals and become fairly exhausted also, driving into the foothills of NC a few days a week.  While I finished school I dealt with some exaggerated levels of guilt, anxiety, irritability, which I came to learn was depression.  We decided again on having another poorly planned pregnancy, we went through 2 miscarriages, but finally end up pregnant with Meena before I finish my program.  I finish NP school in September, Meena is born in March.  I start my first NP job in August.  Things are going pretty well.  Tiring, but we're doing good.  Anil looks into job options, I pray constantly that something will work out in Charlotte.  Anil wanted to look into other options, but in the end, knowing how much I loved being in NC he decided to take a job in Charlotte.  We are both excited!
His job starts, he's anxious, not sleeping, in charge of a bunch of residents, on call every other week and then some.  His work becomes much more stress than expected.
My job, even though I love my patients, it is not the kind of practice I need to be working for fresh out of school.  I need support and consistency which is not what I have.
Anil was reaching his breaking point with work and I was...well living with someone reaching his breaking point.  So he planned on an interview at a school in California and on a whim added an interview to this community health center in Northern California (on the border of Oregon).
He was so excited about the job in Northern California after the interview. He described the quirky town, where everyone was so welcoming, having him to dinner in their homes, playing dice games, the scenery was amazing, he felt so relaxed in this place.
I had a lot of reservations.  It was so far away.  It was different from anything we had known.  It was so far away.
He turned the job down because I was scared.
He had regret.
His job stress continued to increase.
He continued to think about the peaceful feeling he had in Northern California.  Thinking about the community health center with regular work hours, no call, no hospital patients so sick that he lays awake at night worrying about them.
After much discussion, soul searching, tears, fears, he made the decision to give them a call and see if there was still an opportunity.
I was terrified.  Anil knew I had to go there to understand.
A few weeks ago we made a hasty weekend trip out there and I really began to understand why we needed this so much.  I felt the relaxed feeling.  The community is so welcoming, the girls received gifts from folks we met, books, little games.  Brookings is tiny.  It is breathtakingly beautiful.  The rocky beach is a nature museum all on its own.  I feel like this place has so much to offer us as a family.  I want the girls to grow up with this kind of nature in their lives.  I want Anil and I to be able to decompress by walking on the beach.  Or enjoying the Chetco River, exploring the mountains and forests.  While we were there I could see our family growing in a way we haven't.  Connecting with each other.
We have been going non-stop since the day we got married.  But we also feel like we are in a rut, trapped in a life that is comfortable but not pushing us to change into who we want to be.
This move is an adventure.
It's a life I never saw for myself but now that I can envision it I don't want to lose this opportunity.  I want to give this opportunity to my girls, to be connected with this part of the country in some way.  They will spend a part of their childhood with the Pacific Ocean in their front yard and the Redwood Forest in their backyard.  It's an experience for them and for me I can't pass up.  I've never had a huge sense of adventure, I've always tucked away adventure for a safer route, a more comfortable, more stable position.  Steph's always been the Morris girl that saved her dimes for international trips.
But Anil has always had a need for seeing the world and trying new experiences, I'm lucky to be along for the ride in his big ideas.  He has me to keep him grounded, but I have him to move me, push me out of my comfort zone.  I'm still scared.  I'm scared to leave my mom and dad.  I'm scared to leave my North Carolina.
But Anil and I need this.  We need to try this adventure.  We need to slow down our pace and see what this change can do for us.