We’re Moving… again!

According to mymove.com, there were 15.9 million address change requests in 2020 (a 29% increase from the year before). While most of those address change requests were for temporary moves, it’s undeniable that people across the country are evaluating the place they call home like never before.

If you’re a fan of Leanne Ford, you’ll know that her new show is aptly titled “Home Again” after moving back to her home town in Pennsylvania amidst covid. If Leanne can boomerang back home, I guess it’s good enough for the Skidmores as well!

I grew up in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, Dolly Parton country yall! In a small town outside of Knoxville Tennessee, called Alcoa. While I absolutely loved my hometown, when I moved away for college I never anticipated moving back. Wouldn’t you know, it took eighteen years, moving halfway across the country, a global pandemic, and having our little girl for me to finally realize…

There’s no place like home!

We are moving back home to Knoxville Tennessee! Go Vols! 🧡

For the full story, keep reading!

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In March of 2019, Kyle and I made the extremely difficult decision to leave Tennessee, move halfway across the country to Duluth Minnesota and pursue a dream career opportunity for Kyle. Just a year into that move, the coronavirus shut everything down and the world stood still.

For us, in many ways, it felt like it just never re-started.

With a little one on the way, two family health crises, followed by two 16+ hour drives through the night to make it home to be with our families, and the mental and emotional toll of lockdown and isolation… by July of 2020 we both looked at each other and asked “what are we doing?”

When I started Skidmore Consulting in 2013, it was to provide for our family while Kyle finished engineering school. Never did we expect the success the company would have and never did we expect it would be the career path intended for both of us. But as Kyle worked from home for months in 2020, and I took a year-off to pray about my own next career steps—God showed us both that we were meant to do this business together.

Sometimes God takes us on a crazy, twisted journey to reveal His perfect plans.

In April of this year, just a couple weeks after Madelyn was born we knew it was time to move home. We spent countless sleepless nights finishing a two-year renovation project, purchased a home in Tennessee, and had a cash-offer on our MN house within 6 days of listing.

While many times big life decisions feel like stepping into the fog not quite sure if it’s the right choice… this time it felt crystal clear. Like God was clearing the way and swinging all the doors open for us to get home again.

We sold half of our belongings, packed the rest into a 26-foot moving truck, MJ and I got a one-way ticket, and on August 31 Kyle and his dad made the 1000 mile journey back to Tennessee.

We are home!

Duluth was good to us. We made some really wonderful friends, friends that walked with me through hard days, postpartum anxiety, and newborn life. And neighbors who showered us with baby gifts and treated us like family. We are so thankful for each one of them.

 … But there truly is no place like home. 

The blue ridge mountains have never looked so beautiful. The familiarity of the back roads and the smell of the air after it rains… the crickets and yes, even the mosquitos. Even though we are still in transition (living with the in-laws while we wait for our home to be ready)… I’ve never been so grateful for Tennessee, our friends and family, and the familiar.

I once heard someone say, “You can’t just make old friends”. And while new friends are so fun, there is something irreplaceable about friendships that have spanned a lifetime.

Rocky Top you’ll always be home sweet home to me!

We’re home!