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Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Moving Forward

I will never forget the look on Puff's face when he told me.
 
It was Father's Day. Puff had just walked up on the deck after lounging in his hammock that Bimmer had gifted him earlier that morning. "We need to talk."
 
Uh oh.
 
It was then I learned that he had been laid off. His job was moving to Mexico. And we were not going with it.
 
The range of emotions that I experienced that day, and in the days immediately following, varied. I was mad at the company for doing this. I was scared at what was going to come for us. I was happy that he wouldn't have to go to a job he no longer enjoyed. I was uncertain about the uncertainty of it all. This Type A control freak was spiraling the wrong way... with no life raft.
 
The financial worries of being unemployed are, unfortunately, something not too far removed for us. Remember, I was unemployed for 9 months when I was pregnant. The fact that I am not the bread-winner didn't really matter. No, we weren't completely struggling, but it definitely wasn't easy. Now that Puff wouldn't have his larger-than-mine paycheck coming in? Wowza... time to re-evaluate!
 
By the grace of God, he was given a decent severence package, that included 3 months of continued health care. That was one of my biggest worries. What if something happened to Bimmer? What would we do without it? He was also given 17 days of vacation pay. I had a bonus coming due at work. We would be alright. For awhile.
 
The first week of July, Puff had an interview with a company back in The Fort. Do we dare think about moving? If we were ever planning a move, now would be the perfect time. We welcomed another wrench into our already overflowing bucket of concerns and questions. I had a job offer on the table there, but was it worth it to pack up and go? Do we do it now or later? Does it feel right?
 
It didn't.
 
Even though almost everyone thinks we are nuts, we just love South Carolina too much. The last time I had a job offer back in The Fort, my gut told me not to go. A month later, I met Puff.
 
One Friday night in July, Puff got a phone call from a local company. The HR director talked to him for an hour, on her way driving out of town. Sunday night, she called to schedule an interview. He was at their door at 8am Monday morning. And had a 4 hour interview. They wanted to fly him to Detroit that same week for a second interview, but it ended up just being over the phone. The HR director called him that afternoon to ask if he was still interested. They would have an offer to him the next week.
 
Monday came and went. Then Tuesday. And Wednesday. My nerves were shot. My stomach was in knots.
 
Finally, Thursday morning, Puff texted me to let me know they had made a verbal offer. The written one would be coming that afternoon. It was a smidge less than the salary we had hoped, but it was still a decent raise from his last position. The location was closer to the house. It was a step up in his industry. That horrible concrete on my shoulders suddenly shattered. We were so blessed to have this offer come so quickly. It appears as if we were meant to stay here.
 
The new job started Monday. So far, so good. To those of you who knew about this situation before now, thank you for your prayers. Someone, somewhere, was looking out for us, for sure.

1 comment:

The Fischer Family said...

I am so sorry to hear that you guys had to deal with this but I'm so glad that things worked out for the best! Good luck to Puff in his new job!!