Our Big Move

Yesterday Mike accepted a job offer where he used to work (the Energy and GeoScience research institute at the U of U). He has only been unemployed for two months, but we have had a crazy roller coaster ride of emotions during that period. We were sad, but not surprised when Micron announced the closure of its Boise manufacturing plant. We were kind of in denial at the beginning at exactly what this job loss would mean for us. We were optimistic that we could make something work and stay in Boise where we had planned on living for 10+ years. Reality hit about a week later. The job opportunities for Chemical Engineers had dried up in the Boise area. Mike considered getting a teaching license to teach high school Chemistry until the economy recovered, but Boise is having to let teachers go. We knew we would have to leave our first home, the wonderful ward, and great neighborhood we had planned for Erik and our future children to grow up in. It was devastating. I was mad, then scared, then just sad. If you can't already tell, I like to have a plan for everything. :) Basically, my entire perspective needed to shift. Once I was able to accept the needed changes (which took about a month), life got easier. I still had/have hopeful and stressful and mundane days, but over all, things are much better. I listened/watched Elder Wirthlin's 4 min YouTube video "Come What May and Love It." I highly recommend this great 4 min pep talk to remind you everyday to laugh and be optimistic. Recently, my aunt and uncle who live here gave us an amazing book to read Who Moved My Cheese? (It is a short 1 hour read!) It helped us to realize that change is inevitable and your attitude and actions regarding change determine the quality of your life. I haven't been able to bring myself to update my blog about these recent changes in our lives until I knew I would be able to be positive. We have our first silver lining with Mike's new job and now we will just need to deal with selling or renting our house and moving in with my parents for a year. I am optimistic that change will bring "wonderful new cheese" and I hopeful I will embrace it.