I’m Back! For realz this time!
So I know that I promised to blog more often…uh, well this thing happened…it’s called having a baby. When a child enters your life, it flips upside-down and sideways. For instance if you get to take a shower before noon…you’re having a great day!
So I know that all of you have been waiting for me, to update all of you, on what my life has become…hold onto your hat ladies and gents here we go! (And I did mean hat in the singular, as I only know, like, one person who actually wears a hat semi regularly)
I left off our story at the week Mike left me, his 5 month pregnant bride of 7 years, to start work at his new job in sunny Phoenix Arizona. And I meant sunny in the brightest, most heat spewing way. 330 days a year of sun. Our ten-day extended forecast in mid-March 85 degrees and sunny. For 2 SRAIGHT WEEKS. Not complaining about the brightness and warmth, but I get excited for the cloudy, heck, even rainy days here… So back to my story…So Mike drove off and left me in Ohio. Now this was really hard me to handle for a few days. I really missed him, and I was hormonal. It was hard knowing that I wouldn’t see him for a month, but I knew that this is what we needed to do. A lot of people have asked why we left Ohio, some of our family, most of our friends and life as we knew it in the rearview mirror and came to AZ. So here are some of the life choices that have brought us to where we are now.
Mike was really not happy at his company in Ohio. For years he had a manager who overlooked his amazing work, and major contributions to his team, for people who were not contributing much. He was grossly underpaid and undervalued for years. I knew he was unhappy, but there weren’t many jobs in his field of IT available in northern Ohio. So when he got the chance at his dream position, I had to support his taking that chance. He thought taking the job would be a calculated risk. It was a 3-6 month contract position, with no guarantee of a full time salaried position. I knew in my heart, my gut, and my common sense brain that he would be hired. Why? Because Mike is Amazing at what he does. He is the hardest working, most ethical, caring, and creative man I have ever met.
It wasn’t just my belief in him that caused me to feel so strongly that he would be hired, but the fact that Mike knows his stuff. At 21 and fresh out of college with a BA in Business, he decided to tackle CICS. CICS is Mainframe Computer Programming. I still don’t completely understand what it is, but I know it’s really difficult work, and my brain is just not wired in a way that understands it…at all…like not even a little bit. I have no idea what the acronym CICS stands for, something something something Systems…I think. Anyway…CICS when Mike was in college was deemed a dying technology. Everybody was switching over to server-based technology. That was until larger corporations realized that mainframes were a heck of a lot cheaper, used less energy, required considerably fewer workers to maintain, and are way more reliable.
So Mike is now in a field where 90% of the current work force is about to retire in the next 10-12 years. 90%. Wrap your head around that. For 30 years CICS was called a dinosaur, the type of technology many in the field thought was going away. So many colleges have not offered CICS in their course load for years…other than the mention that it was how they used to do things, and that it was being slowing phased out. So now Mike is a young-ish guy, with 10+ years experience, in a field that is desperate for new young blood.
When he took the risk to learn this technology at 21, he did it to challenge himself. Now 11 years later he is a rock star in his field. He has the knowledge that the retiring workforce has, paired with a desire to merge the old tech with the newer programming languages. This kind of person (Mike) is literally one in a million in his field. Add to that the fact that he can work another 30+ years, and you get someone who is headhunted on a regular basis. Every job he interviewed for he was offered. And he interviewed a lot! There was always something that caused us not to take the job. The money wasn’t right, or the location wasn’t desirable to us. There was always something in our gut that said don’t jump, stay where you are for just a bit longer. So I knew when Mike was offered the contract, and the pay grade was what we were looking for, that we weren’t taking a risk.
I knew in my heart that Mike’s new company would love him as a person. That as soon as they got to know the man I know, they would be head over heels too! I knew in my gut that he would blow them away with his knowledge. Most of the people in his field are shocked when they meet him in person. His skill set is that of someone 30 years his senior and more! I knew in my common sense brain that we were going with God. God opened the door, and then all of the windows too. He wouldn’t leave us out in the cold that I knew for sure.
Leaving Ohio was the hardest thing I had ever done in my adult life. I didn’t want to do it, but I knew the reward for our “risk” would be worth it.
Mike was hired in before the first 3 months of the contract were up. The company has been amazing to him, and us. For the first time in his life he wants to move up the ladder, and grow. It’s is amazing what blessings come with a lot of faith, and a “bit” of sunshine.
Next time on “My Soapbox and Other Tangents…”
-We’re here…now what?-