Our family has been through a lot but this is one of the biggest things we’ve ever decided to do in our family. I want to try to capture all the moments over this summer and how we’re doing. Let’s start with how this all came about…
My husband has been out of corporate for over two years now. It was December 2019 when he parted ways with the last company he worked for. He had been with the company over 20 years, but the new management that came in from the last acquisition was quite toxic. To the point that he was living in Boulder, CO while I finished our daughter’s senior year with me and the kids in Pennsylvania. When his father passed away in May 2019, he was given two days of bereavement. I was given 5 days and it was only my father-in-law. Anyway, we knew he needed a break, so he took December off and started looking for a new job in January 2020. We knew it might take a little time, but then the pandemic hit. Working primarily in global real estate when everyone is starting to work from home does not make for a great job search.
After several months, he started a management consulting firm and was also using that business to do electrical work with an electrician while everyone wanted to remodel their houses. He would leave the house super early (around 7AM), and it was great that it kept him able to get out of the house and be productive. All the while during the evenings, he’d still be applying for jobs online and getting lots and lots of no thank you emails. It was rough on his emotions and confidence.
A couple of months ago, he had applied for a role with a small venture capital firm in Austin, TX. He was always looking for an interesting opportunity that would take him away from just corporate real estate and telecommunications. He had three Zoom interviews and then they asked him to come down to meet in person. Within a couple of weeks after that trip, they made him an offer.
In the meantime, I also prepped my manager when my husband was going down there to visit. We do have an office in Austin with 400 employees, coincidentally the same one my husband will be working in. However, no one from my larger department is in that office. Because I’ve been working for my company for over 21 years, they are willing to let me go to that office or work from home.
One of the great things about this job is that they are providing a generous relocation package. The rough part is he needs to start on June 6th. I’ll be posting in upcoming posts what our plan is to sell this house and get moved down there before the boys start 8th grade. I will admit we did think for a hot minute of having him go down there and me stay up here with the boys, but that did not last an hour before we threw that plan out the window.
So on the market soon with this house,
Get to know a new location across the country, find a new home and get settled there. This is the beginning of a beautiful (and busy!) adventure!