 |
| Our current To Do list |
Our world got turned upside down last week when Matt got a call from the Forest Service offering him a permanent position in Pinedale, Wyoming. He had interviewed for the job about a month before, but we had totally written it off, thinking he had not gotten it. Thus, the call came as a total shock and seemingly out of the blue. We were sitting at our kitchen table having lunch with Gran who was visiting for the week. Matt had taken the day off work to spend more time with her. He was actually a little short with the human resources woman on the phone at first. He thought she was calling about a different matter he's been dealing with. When she asked, "Do you have a minute?", he replied, "I'm in the middle of lunch." Then she uttered, "Well, I was calling to offer you a job." That changed Matt's attitude pretty quickly!
That one phone call sent us into a tail spin as we tried to wrap our minds around the reality of what had been offered and whether or not we wanted to take it. Matthew's current job is a term position with limited duration. Having only one year left in the term, he had already started looking for another job. We thought the search would take quite a while and didn't want to end up at the end of that year without employment. Matt had been applying mostly to Forest Service jobs with the goal of getting a permanent position. We thought that would mean having to move to a remote, undesirable location for a few years to secure permanent status. We never imagined the location would be somewhere as amazing as where we are going!
So, the decision to take the Wyoming job seems easy, right? Wrong. We have been in Hood River for 3 years and really feel at home here now. We love living here. We had been starting to think we just might stay. Matt had been talking to a company here in town about possible employment, and it was looking promising. I had started imagining our long term future here. I was excited thinking about nurturing the new and old friendships and connections we've made here. I was excited to finally call Hood River home without the caveat that we would only be here for a few years. I was ready to put down roots!
So when the Wyoming call came, I was actually a little perturbed--the audacity of the universe (or the Forest Service, or whoever!) to throw this at us now, just when we were starting to feel settled! Of course, that was only temporary. Over the next two days, Matt and I considered all the pros and cons of the two options--go to Wyoming, an unknown, or stay put with a new job. In the end, we decided that the Forest Service position is a really good opportunity that we do not want to pass up. It provides long term security for our family and a lifestyle we desire. It also opens up the whole country to us after a few years since Matt would be able to transfer within the federal system if he so desires.
There it is in a nutshell. We're off on a grand adventure to Wyoming where Matt will be working as a fish biologist for the Bridger-Teton National Forest. It's an incredibly beautiful place. Come visit!
(I want to send a special thanks to my mom (a.k.a. Gran) who was with us when our world became a whirlwind. She patiently supported us as we processed all that we had to think about in those two short days. It was really cool to share that with her since we usually don't get to experience day-to-day life together. It was wonderful to have the calm comfort of my mom's presence during a time that otherwise felt completely chaotic. Thanks for encouraging us, Mother! I love you and miss you.)
