Did you see that?! Over there! Wait, there's another one! Did you see it? It's been so long since the last time I saw the familiar glow of a serendipitous moment, I was worried I would forget what it looked like even if it stuck its neon yellow butt right in front of my nose! Well, not to worry, I'm happy to report that after six long months of hibernation, not one, but TWO just crossed my path!
As most of you may or may not know from my frantic Facebook posting back in late January and early February, I left the position I specifically moved to Hawaii for. Yeah, you can say it, "That was quick!" But I'll have you know that I struggled fiercely with my decision to resign; back and forth, up and down, calling friends and family to make heads or tails of my feelings and seeking advice from trusted council as to finding my way when the lights went out on my path. You see, the position I took had all the promising elements of what could have been my next dream job: working with military families, coordinating events and creating meaningful relationships with some amazing co-workers. Now combine those elements with being surround by "The Few, The Proud, and the Totally H-a-w-t, er, I mean The Marines" plus the nominal perk of LIVING IN HAWAII, and what's not to love? Well, two things. Their names are "time clock" and "budget cuts”. First off, let's be honest, I'm not a time clock kind of girl. (Really? Does that come as a surprise to anyone? I thought not.) The last time I punched a time clock was probably about 12 years ago when I was working part-time as a waitress at the BBC. But the last time I punched a clock for a desk job? Uh, that would be…never! So when my 90 day review came up and I was told that I was on being put on probation for tardiness (meaning several entries of 8:02am, 8:03am etc) I knew I was in trouble. But let’s move on to the second one entitled “budget cuts” because that one really hit me where it hurt. Basically due to a corporate budget cut of over $3million dollars it was necessary to tighten the company belt, and unfortunately the yummy goodness that made up my 40 hours a week was cut to almost nil. In order to provide the military families with necessary housing services and great customer care, they had to cut something, and it made sense to start with the “fun stuff”. While I whole-heartedly understood the reasoning, my whole heart still sank. The job part of my job became so tedious so quickly it almost caught me off guard, and though I loved my new co-workers, and my brand new desk and my brand new computer in our brand new building, I knew quickly it wasn’t going to be enough to keep me there. I offered to work part time thinking it would be a great win-win situation; saving the company money, and allowing me to do the reduced amount of work while being able to pursue wedding planning, but alas, “corporate” had a policy against part-time employees. So…I did what any responsible career woman would do. I gave my two-week’s notice with no other income in sight and in one of the toughest locations to find a job-much less a good paying one.“WINNING!”
So, hi-ho, hi-ho it’s happily Ever After I go! And as my friend Jen once said in answer to the question “Where are we?”
“This is where we are.”
