I'm getting closer to 40 than to 30 now. It seems that 35 is the age when people tend to stop and take a look at their life and ask themselves where their life is headed. It's not so much about day to day or even the next year. All of a sudden, you realize you're not as young as you used to be and the long term future comes into a clear, vivid focus.
At the beginning of 2017, I was feeling disillusioned and frustrated with where I was living. I was getting sick of my social life. It seemed 80% of my interacting outside of work was done online. That's not healthy in my eyes. In fact, the highlight was occasional Yelp events at restaurants, bars, and fitness clubs throughout the suburbs.
I have to admit, and I'm not proud of it, but every time I see anything referencing the 2016 World Series, I want to punch someone or spit on the banner. It's cost me friendships, and it's just not something I want to be around. So the sports frustration is really bothering me, to the point of where I stopped going to church since the bass player at the one I went to wore a freaking Cubs game on stage.
Also, work was incredibly frenetic, with people losing their jobs, and knowing none of us had a chance to get a raise or a promotion. So for almost two years, I've been working for two things: the steady paycheck and the students.
And there is a very personal factor here. My father. He talked for years about taking chances and moving. But he never did it. He never left the Northeast. He has his pattern, go to work, read, and watch sports. There's no adventure in his life. While I know he loves me, I don't want to emulate his life. I want to take a few more risks, be a little more spontaneous.
So with these factors in mind, I promised myself that I would make a major change in my life for the better. Now I didn't want to iron down what that change would look like. It could be a relationship, a new job, a new hobby, or something totally different.
That time is coming for me. This could really be happening right now in late June. About three weeks ago, I got an email from an HR worker from a college in Virginia. He asked me if I would be interested in an assistant manager of financial aid position. It was very difficult getting him on the phone, and he's not the most organized guy ever. That's kind of an important quality for someone in HR. Anyway, I had a 45 minute interview with three managers on a Monday, which was ten days ago, followed by another 45 minute follow up with my direct manager. I liked that she used to work in the system I'm in now, so she knows my background and how I've been working. At the end of that conversation, she told me I would be notified early on in the following week.
Monday came and I heard nothing. I didn't think too much of that, but I was hoping to hear something back by Tuesday. I had just finished lunch at Shake Shack, it was a double smoke shack burger with fries and an Arnold Palmer. I was walking back to work, a little tight on time. I was walking on Ohio street, and I felt my phone vibrate. I looked at the screen and I had a voicemail from Virginia. I started to feel excited and immediately called the HR rep back.
Sure enough, he offered me the position starting in mid July. In the next 30 hours, I completed my background check consent, welcome letter, and onboarding paperwork. And now it's Thursday night and I'm sitting on an American Eagle CRJ700 jet plane in seat 16A heading to Norfolk to scout the area.
I believe all that's left is for the background check to be finished. I'm not ready to give my notice to my current job or to announce the news publicly until I know that's clean. Hopefully they don't check my old Twitter account!
I know good and well that this is a risk I'm taking. I don't really know anyone in the Hampton Roads region. There will be a whole lot less variety in terms of food and recreation than what I have in the city of Chicago and in the suburbs. And this school is privately owned, it's not a huge university owned by the state.
But in the other hand, look at the benefits. Higher pay. My first opportunity to be a manager. Cheaper cost of living. Better weather. The beach. A chance to start over.
The deal is maybe 95% closed. I'm still feeling a little guarded, since it isn't totally done. Though there is no getting around the fact that my level of excitement is soaring as I anxiously wait for this plane to touch down in Norfolk. It's a new chapter in my life. It's much needed change. And I pray it's a rewarding one for me, personally and professionally.
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