A year ago

I was recently catching up with people who still thought we had moved out of state last year, so I guess I'm not good at updates. I've been thinking a lot about last year, since it was a crazy year with lots of important decisions to make. Here I'll try to lay out the circumstances about our jobs and how we almost moved, but then didn't.

At the end of the 2020-2021 school year, Aaron decided to leave teaching and return to the engineering industry. After a couple of months with unfruitful applications and interviews, he expanded his job search to out-of-state. In early fall 2021 he received an abrupt job offer, wanting someone with Aaron's skillset in another state ASAP. The company even offered a 3-month starting contract and a furnished apartment so he could get to work right away while we figured out the logistics of moving. The job was appealing, and we were open to the idea of change. So he moved up there without us for October-December to blaze the trail for our supposed move. But we realized pretty early on that we didn't really want to move there. So we changed plans, and Aaron moved back home at the end of the year when his contract was fulfilled. He enjoyed the company, and the work was a good fit. They let him stay on as a remote consultant from our home. That was kind of fun, especially the flexibility of his schedule. But we all struggled with the functional dynamic of the work-from-home model. It might have been different if our home office layout was different. He was occupying a spare bedroom, but with the baby coming, we eventually had to move Aaron's workspace into a more public area of the house. The breaking point was when they had to cut back his hours, and at that point he started applying for jobs again. This time, we exclusively kept the search local. It was a different experience having recent engineering work experience, current references, and confidence to apply for positions that might have seemed like a stretch previously. He had some really positive interviews and was offered two great jobs around the time the baby was born. It was a huge blessing that it was such a hard decision to make. I had a realization at that point that it had been about one full year from the time that he ended his teaching job to when he was offered the perfect engineering job he was looking for. The position he chose has been great for our family, and they even let him adjust his start date by a couple of weeks so he could be home with me for the month after the baby was born. I, for one, really appreciated the month of "paternity leave" (albeit self-imposed and unpaid). He has been working at his new position since and really enjoys it. 

As for me, when Aaron quit his job last year, I increased the hours of my PRN evening job to full time so we could have benefits during his job search. It was a little much, and when Aaron's benefits kicked in for his out-of-state job, I quit my job (1. we thought we were moving 2. the prospect of arranging evening childcare in his absence was stressful 3. it was hard work for a pregnant lady anyway).  It was shortly after giving my two-weeks notice that we became fairly sure we wouldn't be moving. I experienced some regret about quitting, but ultimately chose to "stay the course" and remain unemployed while Aaron was away. When Aaron moved back home in December, I got a different job (much easier to manage while pregnant). The benefits I could get - even just working part-time - were literally ten times better than what we had with the out of state job. Aaron cared for our daughter while I worked at my part-time day job, and he fit in his hours when it was convenient for us. The flexibility was nice, and we thought this arrangement would last longer (i.e. we thought I would go back to work there after maternity leave). But with the situation changing as I described above (i.e. that Aaron's hours were cut and the work environment - our kitchen corner - was a bit chaotic), he started to look for a traditional in-person job. He started his new job the month after the baby was born. After maternity leave, I changed jobs again so I can work PRN again, mainly evenings and weekends. I enjoy working to keep my nursing license active and earn a little extra income, but most of the time I'm home with the kids.

So there you have it...our job situation from the past year. 

Thankful Turkey