So, I wanted to title this post "Sometimes things drop in your lap and your life makes a sudden right turn on a dime," but that seemed like it might be too long for a title.
Clearly my attempt to "catch up" in my last post was an epic failure. Not shocking to me at all, sadly.
Just to get to what I really wanted to start posting about, here's a mini(micro) catch up from October-February:
November
The good: I once again got older. C'est la vie. At least I have excellent people with whom to celebrate this yearly occurrence.
The sad: my grandpa passed away after three turbulent weeks of struggle. I'm still processing - and so grateful for my faith and testimony that I'll see him again.
December(only good...or so I choose to remember it)
The Christmas season always makes me feel better, and New Years at a gorgeous cabin by a lake doesn't hurt.
January
Pretty quiet - unseasonably warm and dry though...which made for the perfect time for some exploring in SF.
Now February is where things really get interesting...very quickly. So technically I guess the story started back in November...but it was such a little blip that I'd pretty much forgotten all about.
See, I'd been at my job for just over a year and, while I loved my coworkers, I wasn't really loving the direction my career was going. I had told myself I would give it a year and then reevaluate. So after a not-so-good day, on something of a whim, I applied for a job on the corporate website of one of my favorite companies. Just to see if anything would come of it.
Well, two days later the job posting was gone, I never heard anything, and I went back to my regularly scheduled life without much other thought about it.
Flash forward to February...when out of the blue I get an email from HR at the company I had applied at saying the position had been reopened, they'd reviewed my resume and would I please reapply. After a few hours of shock, I figured I might as well reapply; I didn't have anything to lose. So I did. And a few days later I had an interview scheduled. Onsite.
I may have neglected to mention that the job was in Utah. And I'm a California girl to the core. Born, raised, and never lived out of state. So the fact that I was interviewing for a job in Utah (a place I had vowed never to live) was a bit unexpected, to say the least. And the fact that I had already planned a vacation in Utah, which just happened to perfectly coincide with the interview timeline...that pushed things from unexpected to bizarre.
So off I flew, for a week long vacation in Utah (and what I thought would be a couple hours of throw away time at an interview for a job I figured it would be a long shot for me to even consider). The vacation was great. The interview was...hard to read. I thought it went well, but I didn't think I had the experience they were looking for. At least that was how I felt about it until I got a call three hours after the interview asking me to interview with the next level of management. By the time I flew back to California 6 days later I had the verbal promise of an forthcoming offer. And a lot to think about.
8 days (and a lot of thinking, praying and talking) later, I gave notice at the company I'd been working at for 8 years.
As a side note - I am not an impetuous person. Nor am I particularly decisive. I tend to wait until the very last second to make a decision...and then, only if I really have to. If there's a way to go with the flow or stay in my rut...that's usually my modus operandi. Making a decision this momentous, this quickly, was totally out of character for me.
And just to put into perspective my experience with the company I was leaving:
-It was my first real job after college
-I survived 4 waves of layoffs while there (including one that hit while I was a contractor, before I even got a permanent job there)
-It gave me my first opportunity to leave the country (and then proceeded to send me to Europe more than 10 times over the course of the following 6 years)
-It allowed me to work with amazing individuals, all around the world and to grow into a much more confident and capable person
-It gave me the opportunity to work with my Dad and develop a new aspect of my relationship with him (for which I will always be grateful).
Leaving Siemens was a huge decision for me. And yet, it just felt right. Everything fell into place in ways I couldn't have imagined. And so quickly...less than 7 weeks after I first got the email asking me to reapply for the job, I was living in Utah and working at my new job. And so far....it's pretty amazing.
Even if I do live in Utah now. At least I have all kinds of new places to explore. And I'm still only 90 minute flight from home.
