So I bet you all were thinking to yourselves just now, “Wow, Scott & Leah sure have made a nice home for themselves. I sure do hope that they will be happy in Buffalo for the rest of their natural lives.”
Of course, knowing this has prompted us to abruptly change course again, just to keep everyone on their toes. Okay, that’s not the reason. Who are we to fly in the face of well wishers? But when something like this comes along, you have to do what you have to do.
I was offered a job in Connecticut last week. A phenomenal, stupendous, wonderful, perfect, terrific, I can’t think of another superlative, job. A job doing what I love.
I accepted the offer.
We’re going back.
We are completely happy in Buffalo. We have family as close as the floor below us who we love with all our hearts. The city is such a wonderful place to live – inexpensive, safe, and culturally rich. It will truly break all of our hearts to leave. But for as happy as we’ve been in Buffalo, and we have been very happy indeed, my career has been put on hold for two years. For large scale construction management, Buffalo is an economic black hole, as a colleague of mine aptly put it.
Luckily, when faced with a transition, I was able to find a mindless, automaton position that paid fairly well and let me stay at home. It was the perfect opportunity for me to help Leah raise our family. I will always be satisfied with that decision.
However, in recent months we’ve realized that if I was to have any hope of moving forward, it most likely would not be in Buffalo. What I do and have been trained to do just isn’t being done in Buffalo yet. Any position that approximates large scale construction project management does not carry the same pay scale that I am on. Maybe it will someday, but not any time in the near future.
I have been actively looking for a position since July, and have found nothing. My continued employment has been called into question each time my contracts ended. Neither Leah nor I enjoyed the feeling at all. More recently, we had some lengthy discussions about how we were going to take care of our family in the not too distant future, and the resulting decision was for me to start looking at other positions within my present company, but in other cities.
I was offered a position in Chicago a few weeks ago. We had basically decided that we were moving to Illinois. Then my company was purchased, and all hiring for metro offices was put on indefinite hold.
As she has blessed us so many times in our lives already, Fate stepped in and, while standing waiting for drinks at the wedding we attended a couple weeks ago, I was offered a job.
And, instead of relocating to Chicago, Atlanta, or Seattle (yes, those were all on our list of possibilities), we are going to place that we already know, with friends and family waiting for us. We could not have hoped for better circumstances.
Last week, when I told Leah that moving within my company was not an option anymore, she did something she had never done before. She said a prayer to my Mom.
Heard and answered.
