This may very well be the first anonymous/incognito post on Hellobee. I hate to be "that girl" but I really need some input on an issue that needs to remain private for the time being. I am a regular poster, and my username gives away my real life identity.

So, my issue. DH & I just found out that his job will be transferring him to my hometown!!! This is SO exciting for us. We have lived in our current city for 2 years, and we'll miss it, but we want to be closer to my parents before we start a family. This is the first step in our "life plan" and we are really happy about it. We won't be moving for 5 or 6 months, though.

The thing is, I really love my job here. It's not perfect, but I adore all the people I work with. My manager in particular has become a very good friend, probably my closest friend in our city. Not to toot my own horn, but I think I am an asset to my company, and I know that everyone will be sad to hear I am leaving. My job is fairly specialized and they will need to hire someone to replace me.

So my question is: How much notice should I give? I will definitely give more than two weeks. Like I said, my manager is a good friend and keeping the fact that we are moving from her for that long would be hard, and I imagine it would be a little hurtful to her on a personal level. From a professional standpoint, I'd like to allow enough time for them to bring on someone else and for me to help train them, if that's what they want.

Still, I am hesitant to tell anyone now. 5-6 months is a long time to work with a close knit group of people who all know you are leaving - I don't want to be seen as a "lame duck." I also don't want my two bosses that are over my manager to know until closer because it might effect my working relationships with them. No matter how well I am liked, there's always a chance they could give me the boot early.

Right now, I'm thinking maybe 2 months notice? It still feels like it will be SO hard over the next 3 or 4 months to keep it a secret! Not to mention, I'm scared of someone finding out over Facebook or something, since DH's friends and our family will probably know before anyone at my job does.

What do you all think??