Careful readers of my other site have noticed that I've been flirting with various jobs. I've been rather quiet about this for lots of reasons, no need to raise certain issues until they really are issues.
The most promising job would involve a move. Not a huge move, about an hour and a half away under ideal driving conditions, but far enough that Charlene wouldn't be able to work in Marin County any more, if we were to take this job she'd give up a bunch of seniority, a certain pay grade, and an assignment working with a wonderful teacher that she really enjoys. One of the blockers between us and this job has been that were I to take this job we'd either have to keep two households until we actually made a decision, or she'd have to be okay with being "Mrs. Dan Lyke".
Showing a bit of my hand here, we went up yesterday to be shown around the area, to see if there was a community in which we could live up there, and to give Charlene the pitch I've heard on the job so that she could give me the questions that she's so good at.
On the way back we were talking about the job and the shifts that it'd take in our lives, and I asked her if, even though there are tons of historical reasons that I try to avoid marriage and the whole social structures that surround it, and even though I'd done my absolute best in the years I've known her to push her towards a station in life where she didn't have to be dependent on anyone, she was really so dead set against being "Mrs. Dan Lyke", because she really does have a skill set and traits that fill in gaps in my own abilities, and I think we acomplish more as partners than as individuals.
And there's one major blocker to that job remaining, it's a big one, but not an insurmountable one.