I would say it started back in September, on the night of Killian's 11th birthday party to be exact, but in truth the seed was planted many months ago. Matthew has been at his job for 10 years now, in a variety of positions, each new one leading him down the path where a job becomes a career. He is currently in a supervisor role, managing a team of about 15 people, in charge of hiring, firing and everything in between. He excels at his job - he had the top sales team last year which led us to All Stars, through his hard work the year before he won us a trip to San Diego and in between there have been numerous accolades and rewards for a job very well done. He gets recruited for special projects, has other supervisors coming to ask for tips to make their team as successful as his, and consistently outshines his peers. He, in short, is pretty darn good at his job, and everyone there recognizes it.
As much as he loves it, and as well as he has been doing the last couple years, he is ready for change. Ready for something more challenging, and ready to step out of his comfort zone to find it. For the past year we have been throwing around the idea of Matthew applying for a different position, which in and of itself wouldn't be big news if it weren't for the fact that any position worth his time is most likely going to take us out of state. That right there is a really big decision to make and we would find ourselves hemming and hawing on the subject and then putting it on the back burner to discuss again at a later time.
In June, Matthew was asked to fly to Texas to give tips and pointers to their sales team. The Portland market is number one (by a long shot) in the entire division for sales, so they have other markets around the country asking for help so that they can try to make their teams just as successful. Matthew spent two days down there coaching their managers and supervisors, and sharing what makes the Portland market so darn good. In the beginning of September, a similar coaching opportunity came up for the Minnesota market, and Matthew's manager Ron flew out there to give them some help.
When Ron came back, he told Matthew that the St. Paul Minnesota call center had told him that they were looking for a Sales Manager to hire, and asked if Ron had anyone he could recommend. He suggested that Matthew would be the perfect candidate for it! Matthew and I talked it over late that night, contemplating our families future to the muffled sounds 11 year old boys staying up way too late playing video games. We tossed the idea around between us, and decided that he should apply for it. That night we were full of dreams of exciting new adventures, and found it hard to sleep with all the possibilities in front of us.
So, that's really how it started. Matthew filled out his application for the position, and when St. Paul called to speak to a handful of managers in the call center to get their recommendations, everyone agreed that Matthew would be perfect for the position. He did a phone screen, then a video conference, and then they flew him out to St. Paul for a couple days. During the 6 hours he spent at their call center, he did just over a half dozen interviews, with everyone from the human resources vice president, to the VP of sales and the director of the call center. In his sit down conversations with the big guys, they told him that he was their number one candidate for the job, that they wanted him there, they were impressed by him and so on and so on. No surprise to me really, but I do happen to be his biggest fan.
And it was exciting - Matthew being wooed from halfway across the country. Over the course of the month between when he first applied and when they flew him out, he had lots of conversations with his contact there, and things just seemed to be falling into place. On the job front that is....the home front was an entirely different matter.
As it is in most cases like this, the devil is in the details. Our biggest obstacles were not the ones we expected. The kids were fine with the idea of moving, and actually shocked me by having such great attitude about it. There were a few "I don't want to leave all my friends" comments from Killian, and "I don't want to change schools" from Rowan, but those were outdone by all the excitement that Minnesota had to offer - the Mall of America, snow sports, tons of awesome new places to visit, the idea of exploring the surrounding states. But all the lakes and amusement parks in the world couldn't detract from what we would be leaving here. The two biggest things to me - our home, and our friends. We have fallen into a fantastic place in our lives right now where we have a really, really great set of friends - husbands of my friends that Matthew actually likes to hang out with (hooray!) and for myself, some women that I just can not imagine my life without. My sisters, BFF's, closest companions...call them what you will, but I was heartbroken at the idea of leaving them. Then, the house. We bought our house three years ago just as the real estate bubble was bursting and we had kept hearing how bad the housing market was, but it wasn't until I contacted realtors that I realized just what that meant. Through three different companies, we learned that we could potentially be losing around $60,000 of our investment in this house. Add the uncertainty of how long it could take to sell and couple it with the idea of possibly having to carry two mortgages, and the excitement started fading fast.
Adding to the loss of money, and friends was the thought of leaving Jeanne. She is getting older, turning 75 this year, and not doing so great health wise. I think she is a tough old lady, and will hang on for a while still, but she did not take the news of the possible news well. She broke down sobbing, and became very depressed. That left me feeling really sad, and added another tally mark to the "Reasons not to move" side of the list. It was growing longer very day. The time of year wasn't helping either - we started this process in September, and 8 weeks in, we still didn't have an answer. Minnesota is known best for one thing - its dark, long snow filled winters...a season that was very quickly approaching.
Everyday that passed, this whole thing just seemed to be a worse and worse idea. Of course, there were moments when I was truly really excited about it, because I love adventure, exploring new places, and the excitement of starting over. But the details were starting to bog me down - would we want to rent or sell, how much would the relocation package be (and would it be enough to cover flights, housing and moving everything we own 2,000 miles away), finding a new oncologist/hospitals for testing, what farms would we find to get milk and meat and eggs from, where would we shop for groceries, where would the kids go to school....the list went on and on. I have no doubt that we would be able to rise to the challenge, and come through swimmingly, but the thought kept creeping in...did we even want to? Was this still what we wanted to do?
The interview process kept inching slowly along. After Matthew returned from his trip, St Paul called and spoke with his manager Ron and told him they were putting together an offer. They wanted him 100% and were excited to have him (almost) on board. Over the next couple weeks, St. Paul asked him to do another phone interview, this time with the VP of Sales for the entire division (about 9 western states). He did great, and she told him she was really excited for him to take the position, and that she was thinking it would just be a stepping stone for better and greater things. She seemed really positive about the future, and that got us feeling a little more excited again. We were hearing things from Matthews manager about our local VP's coming into his office and asking if Matthew had gotten his offer yet, the managers over there in contact with him to talk about the future with Matthew as their Sales Manager...suddenly everything seemed to be happening really fast. Matthew had one last interview - this time with someone who wasn't even in St Paul, but who was a recently hired manager of something or other who would be moving to Minnesota from California in the near future to start his new position. And we didn't know it yet, but that guy was going to single handidly decide our families fate...
Word came in from Sarah, the woman in St Paul that Matthew had been dealing with throughout this whole process. They had the offer for him, written up, signed off on and ready to present. Until. Until Mr. California joined the party and decided that he wanted to "go a different direction" with the position. He wanted to change around who would be overseeing the job, and reopen the job posting. Word on the street is that he has someone in mind for the position - someone who he currently works with in California. Such is life in a big corporation - its often not what you do, but who you know. And apparently, Mr. California knew someone he thought would be perfect to join him on his flight out to Minnesota. Sarah was very very upset by this, and kept assuring Matthew it had absolutely nothing to do with him. That everyone had signed off on the offer for him, and they were all super excited about having him work with them. She said she spent hours going to bat for Matthew against this guy, but in the end, it was his decision to make. Nine weeks of stress, excitement, sadness, research, planning, and countless hours of time....down the drain.
And you would think we would be upset. You would think that perhaps we would be fashioning little Mr. California voodoo dolls in our spare time. You would think this would be a devastating blow. But you know what we did when we heard the news? We let out a big sigh of relief and we thanked our lucky stars. We had already come to the conclusion that we would be giving up way to much, and gaining far to little to make this move worth it. Leaving people we love, the house that we have made into our home, Matthew's family, and in truth - a life that is perfect just how it is. We really couldn't ask for anything more than we have, and it took the possibility of change to remind ourselves of that. Now, that's not to say that Matthew wont accept a future offer out of state, or that we are settling into a complacent life. No, we are certainly still looking at all our options, and we are still ready to accept change with open minds and hearts. We are just holding everything we love a little closer in the meantime, and spending a little more time whispering our prayers of thankfulness before we close our eyes at night. Seems like we have more and more to add to that list each and every day.
As much as he loves it, and as well as he has been doing the last couple years, he is ready for change. Ready for something more challenging, and ready to step out of his comfort zone to find it. For the past year we have been throwing around the idea of Matthew applying for a different position, which in and of itself wouldn't be big news if it weren't for the fact that any position worth his time is most likely going to take us out of state. That right there is a really big decision to make and we would find ourselves hemming and hawing on the subject and then putting it on the back burner to discuss again at a later time.
In June, Matthew was asked to fly to Texas to give tips and pointers to their sales team. The Portland market is number one (by a long shot) in the entire division for sales, so they have other markets around the country asking for help so that they can try to make their teams just as successful. Matthew spent two days down there coaching their managers and supervisors, and sharing what makes the Portland market so darn good. In the beginning of September, a similar coaching opportunity came up for the Minnesota market, and Matthew's manager Ron flew out there to give them some help.
When Ron came back, he told Matthew that the St. Paul Minnesota call center had told him that they were looking for a Sales Manager to hire, and asked if Ron had anyone he could recommend. He suggested that Matthew would be the perfect candidate for it! Matthew and I talked it over late that night, contemplating our families future to the muffled sounds 11 year old boys staying up way too late playing video games. We tossed the idea around between us, and decided that he should apply for it. That night we were full of dreams of exciting new adventures, and found it hard to sleep with all the possibilities in front of us.
So, that's really how it started. Matthew filled out his application for the position, and when St. Paul called to speak to a handful of managers in the call center to get their recommendations, everyone agreed that Matthew would be perfect for the position. He did a phone screen, then a video conference, and then they flew him out to St. Paul for a couple days. During the 6 hours he spent at their call center, he did just over a half dozen interviews, with everyone from the human resources vice president, to the VP of sales and the director of the call center. In his sit down conversations with the big guys, they told him that he was their number one candidate for the job, that they wanted him there, they were impressed by him and so on and so on. No surprise to me really, but I do happen to be his biggest fan.
And it was exciting - Matthew being wooed from halfway across the country. Over the course of the month between when he first applied and when they flew him out, he had lots of conversations with his contact there, and things just seemed to be falling into place. On the job front that is....the home front was an entirely different matter.
As it is in most cases like this, the devil is in the details. Our biggest obstacles were not the ones we expected. The kids were fine with the idea of moving, and actually shocked me by having such great attitude about it. There were a few "I don't want to leave all my friends" comments from Killian, and "I don't want to change schools" from Rowan, but those were outdone by all the excitement that Minnesota had to offer - the Mall of America, snow sports, tons of awesome new places to visit, the idea of exploring the surrounding states. But all the lakes and amusement parks in the world couldn't detract from what we would be leaving here. The two biggest things to me - our home, and our friends. We have fallen into a fantastic place in our lives right now where we have a really, really great set of friends - husbands of my friends that Matthew actually likes to hang out with (hooray!) and for myself, some women that I just can not imagine my life without. My sisters, BFF's, closest companions...call them what you will, but I was heartbroken at the idea of leaving them. Then, the house. We bought our house three years ago just as the real estate bubble was bursting and we had kept hearing how bad the housing market was, but it wasn't until I contacted realtors that I realized just what that meant. Through three different companies, we learned that we could potentially be losing around $60,000 of our investment in this house. Add the uncertainty of how long it could take to sell and couple it with the idea of possibly having to carry two mortgages, and the excitement started fading fast.
Adding to the loss of money, and friends was the thought of leaving Jeanne. She is getting older, turning 75 this year, and not doing so great health wise. I think she is a tough old lady, and will hang on for a while still, but she did not take the news of the possible news well. She broke down sobbing, and became very depressed. That left me feeling really sad, and added another tally mark to the "Reasons not to move" side of the list. It was growing longer very day. The time of year wasn't helping either - we started this process in September, and 8 weeks in, we still didn't have an answer. Minnesota is known best for one thing - its dark, long snow filled winters...a season that was very quickly approaching.
Everyday that passed, this whole thing just seemed to be a worse and worse idea. Of course, there were moments when I was truly really excited about it, because I love adventure, exploring new places, and the excitement of starting over. But the details were starting to bog me down - would we want to rent or sell, how much would the relocation package be (and would it be enough to cover flights, housing and moving everything we own 2,000 miles away), finding a new oncologist/hospitals for testing, what farms would we find to get milk and meat and eggs from, where would we shop for groceries, where would the kids go to school....the list went on and on. I have no doubt that we would be able to rise to the challenge, and come through swimmingly, but the thought kept creeping in...did we even want to? Was this still what we wanted to do?
The interview process kept inching slowly along. After Matthew returned from his trip, St Paul called and spoke with his manager Ron and told him they were putting together an offer. They wanted him 100% and were excited to have him (almost) on board. Over the next couple weeks, St. Paul asked him to do another phone interview, this time with the VP of Sales for the entire division (about 9 western states). He did great, and she told him she was really excited for him to take the position, and that she was thinking it would just be a stepping stone for better and greater things. She seemed really positive about the future, and that got us feeling a little more excited again. We were hearing things from Matthews manager about our local VP's coming into his office and asking if Matthew had gotten his offer yet, the managers over there in contact with him to talk about the future with Matthew as their Sales Manager...suddenly everything seemed to be happening really fast. Matthew had one last interview - this time with someone who wasn't even in St Paul, but who was a recently hired manager of something or other who would be moving to Minnesota from California in the near future to start his new position. And we didn't know it yet, but that guy was going to single handidly decide our families fate...
Word came in from Sarah, the woman in St Paul that Matthew had been dealing with throughout this whole process. They had the offer for him, written up, signed off on and ready to present. Until. Until Mr. California joined the party and decided that he wanted to "go a different direction" with the position. He wanted to change around who would be overseeing the job, and reopen the job posting. Word on the street is that he has someone in mind for the position - someone who he currently works with in California. Such is life in a big corporation - its often not what you do, but who you know. And apparently, Mr. California knew someone he thought would be perfect to join him on his flight out to Minnesota. Sarah was very very upset by this, and kept assuring Matthew it had absolutely nothing to do with him. That everyone had signed off on the offer for him, and they were all super excited about having him work with them. She said she spent hours going to bat for Matthew against this guy, but in the end, it was his decision to make. Nine weeks of stress, excitement, sadness, research, planning, and countless hours of time....down the drain.
And you would think we would be upset. You would think that perhaps we would be fashioning little Mr. California voodoo dolls in our spare time. You would think this would be a devastating blow. But you know what we did when we heard the news? We let out a big sigh of relief and we thanked our lucky stars. We had already come to the conclusion that we would be giving up way to much, and gaining far to little to make this move worth it. Leaving people we love, the house that we have made into our home, Matthew's family, and in truth - a life that is perfect just how it is. We really couldn't ask for anything more than we have, and it took the possibility of change to remind ourselves of that. Now, that's not to say that Matthew wont accept a future offer out of state, or that we are settling into a complacent life. No, we are certainly still looking at all our options, and we are still ready to accept change with open minds and hearts. We are just holding everything we love a little closer in the meantime, and spending a little more time whispering our prayers of thankfulness before we close our eyes at night. Seems like we have more and more to add to that list each and every day.