Thursday, July 22, 2010

tomorrow

A year from now, my life will be pretty much completely different.

Tomorrow is my very last day as a GIS Analyst in Hickory.  After five and a half years,  I am leaving.  Why?  Well it turns out when your job is based off of contracts, when the contracts run out, you're out of a job.  In the beginning of June, I was told that they probably would not be able to pay me any more after September 30th.

Needless to say, I freaked out.

How am I going to pay my bills?

What am I going to do for insurance?

Well, the first thing I did was get online and apply for every GIS (mapping) position in NC that I could find.  I think I applied for six jobs that first day.

After a few weeks though, I wasn't hearing anything back and I was running out of positions to apply for.  I was checking jobsites several times a day.   Then I got a call for a interview! Four days later I went to that interview.

And... I was pretty darn sure I tanked.  TANKED.   I'm just one of those people that get nervous and my mind goes completely blank when I realize I'm nervous.  I was tripping over my words and repeating myself.  When they got to the GIS questions part of the interview, I had NO IDEA what the heck they were talking about.  But somehow I got through it, and went home.  And looked for more jobs.

At some point I was starting to feel a little hopeless, but then there's Carmen.  Carmen is a pretty positive person, and she talked to me and told me that if I think positively, things will go positively.  So, that's what I did. I started to see the good side of all of this.  If I did go on unemployment, I could at least sleep in.  Some of my bills I'd be able to defer.  I still had my Outback job, so I could possibly still pay my mortgage.  I could trade my car in and get something older that I wouldn't have to make payments on.  I could put all of my focus on planning my wedding.  Things would be okay.  And I would find a job.

This positive thinking thing really does help.  Carmen is a genius.

So, then I got a call from the people I interviewed with.  And a job offer.  WHAT?  I couldn't believe it, but yes, I got a new job.  A better job, really.

And on Monday, I start my new job, and my life will be changing.  

In January, I'm getting married.  Shortly after we will move to Winston-Salem, and we will have a new house/apartment/condo to live in.   We may even get a dog.  Next July 22?  I will be in a totally different situation.  

I will miss my friends in Hickory very dearly, but I will only be an hour away.  I will miss my coworkers and that sense of family that I have with them.  I will miss Katie and how she knows exactly what to say.  I will miss Carmen, and living next door.   When something breaks in my house in Winston,  I will not be able to run next door and ask them what to do.  And I won't have my trivia nights with her...  Perhaps we'll set up a weekly dinner in Statesville or something.

Things will be different.

But we will okay.  :)

3 comments:

Carmen said...

We will be ok. You will always be my best friend even if you lived in Alaska. This is a very good thing.

Never forget...some may see problems...I see opportunities to make life even better.

I love you. I'm really proud of you.

Joan said...

next fall we can pick you up on our way to The Rock.

Lovey said...

Congratulations not only on all of the positive changes, but also on the positive outlook you have! :)