This feels very much like coming home. I am not from South Carolina but it has always been the place I have loved and considered my favorite place. Both of my children were born here and even tough they spent five years in Arizona, they always claimed South Carolina as their home.
The last few months have been extremely stressful and yet very rewarding. My husband moved here 8 weeks before we did and had to find us a house. This is now at least the fourth time that I have to leave that responsibility to him (we have moved 8 times in 17 years). Thank goodness for technology to help us share pictures, listings and plainly communicate so I can still feel like I have a say in the process. But no matter how great he is, it is always challenging to walk through a house for the first time on your move-in date. And yes he did well given the small amount of time he had and the obvious challenges of finding a house that would meet our needs.
The added challenge with this move was that for the first time I had to try and transfer within the same company while hopefully getting a position at the same level.
This experience became a frustrating, challenging and also surprising time. After interviewing for several positions over the phone, I ended up leaving Arizona still without a job.
The surprising part came when I found out about some amazing people trying to help me out in my search. These were people I had never met and in some cases never been in any kind of contact with. They were people who had found out about my situation and thought me worthwhile of a little help. Saying that I was touched by this will not cover how I truly felt. My heart was and still is full of gratitude for these women and I will never be able to express how much this has meant to me. I may never know how many people were involved in this but they have reminded me how powerful a network of great people can be. And you can be sure that I will pay it forward.
A few days after I moved back, I was able to line up two more interviews and that exact day I had found a new job at a new store. Talk about a whirlwind !
I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason. I am convinced that the timing was right, the opportunity was exactly what I needed and that the people who decided to take a chance on me are fantastic.
I am lucky to now be part of a great crew that has welcomed me with open arms.
What does the future hold now for our family ? well hopefully a little stability. I promise you it would take a heck of a lot for us to ever move away from South Carolina again. In fact the only move I can foresee now is the one that will take us out of our rental house and back into a house we own. This may take a couple of years but it will happen someday.
I will finish with this quote I found recently that brought back to mind all the things I just went through :
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
Albert Einstein
I'll let you guess which option I chose. Peace !
