November

WARNING: This is an extremely long post without any pictures. Long story short for those of you who don't want to read the entire thing: November has historically been a crazy month for me. And I'm grateful for it.

November 2004: I start the process to begin a two-year service mission for my church.
November 2005: My Dad is hit by a car and goes into a coma.
November 2009: I fall in love with the greatest woman on Earth.
November 2010: Kim and I buy and house and move in.
November 2011: After being unemployed for a month and looking for a job for two months, I find the best job I've ever had.

Looking back, November has almost always been an interesting month; one that has always caused me to pause, reflect and be extremely grateful for the people that I have. I have always had incredibly good, loyal friends around me. Growing up, I had some of the best adult mentors there to help me through some extremely difficult times. I have amazing brothers that, even though they were hundreds of miles away and have their own families, took time out of their lives to call, talk and check in on their "little" brother. When they came home, they took an interest in my life. Don't let my past tense language fool you - they continue to do this. I have some of the best brothers I could ever ask for.

This year has been extremely difficult. A huge roller coaster you might say. I had a very good-paying job that I absolutely hated. It made me loose sleep at night and I hated going into work every day. It felt like I was robbing people blind of their money, their hopes, their dreams and their life savings. And gratefully, I lost it. I refer to the job as golden handcuffs. They were awesome! Pay was good! But I was still in handcuffs. Losing that job was the first of many scary situations I have had over this year. I have never been out of a job since I was in 4th grade delivering papers.

Gratefully, I was able to find a job a few weeks later working for an attorney doing their web design. It was awesome! I didn't loose sleep at night, it was something that I love doing, the pay was decent and I was able to experiment and try new things. I had a lot of fun at that job. But in the back of my mind, I knew it was going to end soon. They didn't have the revenue to keep me on and keep marketing, so I knew I was leaving soon. They started cutting back hours in August.

This came at probably one of the most stressful weekends of the year. The people that had signed a contract to live in our basement moved out, meaning we had to find someone STAT. The first couple hours, I was stressed beyond beliefe. Gratefully, we had someone signed by the end of the weekend.

At the end of October, I was asked to resign from my job. Not sure why they didn't just let me go, but that's beside the point. I came home distraught. I was again, for the second time in my life, unemployed. Kim stepped in and laid out a plan to find a job. She would search high and low, scouring internet sites and emailing them to me so I could apply to them. I was to remain focused on my school work, look for additional jobs and apply to the dozens that she sent me. Trust me, they piled up fast.

I saw a job posting for a company that looked like they designed software for dairy cattle farmers. I quickly put that at the bottom of the list. There was another one that seemed like an awesome opportunity working for 3 months in a contract position for a very renowned computing company. I quickly applied to that one. I was called in for an interview about a week and a half later and talked to the interim manager of interface design. It seemed like an awesome job, except that at the end of 3 months, I would probably be looking for another job because I wouldn't be able to go full time. They told me they would get back with me.

Eventually, I got to the cattle company. I applied to it and was called in for an interview. Almost immediately, it seemed like a fit. It was extremely laid back atmosphere, large company and stable. They've been around since the 50's. I doubt they're going anywhere anytime fast. Turns out, they use nearly the same software to track cattle info as they do to track bank transactions and medical records. I was called in a week later to talk to the manager over all of design and the CEO of the company.

The next day, the computing company called me and extended me the offer. I told them that I was waiting to hear back from another company and would get back with them. The next week, I was offered the job at the "cattle" company. I started there yesterday.

So, in this month of thanks, I'm extremely grateful. I'm grateful first of all, for Kim. I know a lot of people say this, but I really have no clue how I could have survived this November without her. I'm grateful for awesome professors who were flexible with due dates because they understood the stress I was under. I'm grateful for a job! I told Kim that I think one of the best decisions that I made for my career was way back in high school when I took a web design class. I'm grateful to the many, many friends who seem like they have much more problems that are soooo much more difficult than mine, but they take the time to help me talk through my problems to find possible solutions to them. I'm grateful for an awesome and amazing family that is always there for me. I have some of the best in-laws anybody could ever ask for, and I am forever in their debt for raising such an awesome woman for me to marry.