Anniversaries

10/27/2009

Our anniversaries are many. Sometimes dates stick in our heads as indelible reminders of events that define our lives. Pretty powerful sentiment, but true nonetheless.

Robin and I share several imporant dates each year; reminders of the significant changes that we've been through both individually and as a couple. We remind ourselves of our early times together and remember our first kiss, the engagement and, of course, our wedding day. We also keep track of things like the passing of a parent because to recall them is to keep their memory alive with us. Robin and I remember this date (10/27) because it represents one of the biggest life changes we've ever made (and one of the bigger ones we've even heard of).

A year ago on this date we arrived at the Miami ARTCC for our first day of work at our new facility. It represented so much planning and hard work, a lot of sacrifice and a whole lot of insecurity. Most people don't just decide to pick up stakes after 25 years in one place, get rid of nearly every material possession that surrounded them, and move across the country in a 5th-wheel. True, there are much stranger stories but this was an absolutely huge step for us.

We planned this out, thought it through, talked endlessly about it, prayed about it and tried to reconcile the logic with the dream. It was a hard, hard time and things seemed to bounce back and forth between 'everything is working out fine' and 'nothing is going right'.

We fought hard to put houses on the market, sell big ticket items, donate most of our little stuff away and foist a lot of stuff, good and bad, onto the kids for their use. In the end it came together well enough for us to pull away on schedule and arrive in Miami on time and ready to go to work.

The year has been amazing; in every sense of the word. From the moment we set foot on the new job site it became apparent that it was a reality that was far separated from our visions. That we were 'not in Kansas anymore' is about as close as I can come to explaining how if felt to be on what could reasonanbly be considered foreign soil. The list of things that were different, challenging, nonsensical and hard to grasp was every bit as long as our list of what we expected, hoped for and understood about the world.
It was a complete change of culture, a total immersion into an eight-million person habitat replete with 20 distinct and different civilizations inhabiting the same sardine packed landscape. Languages, traffic jams, foods on the shelves of stores, traffic, bureaucracy and lines for literally everything slammed us with the insistent message of "what have we done?".
We've counted our expenses (although they still mount) and we've accounted for our gains. In summary we can not truthfully say whether this was exactly the right decision at the right time, but we cannot deny that we struck out in faith toward a dream that so many profess but so few actually pursue. We did what we said we were going to do and now we are a grand step closer to fulfilling our dream.
In the year since we pulled away in "Fordzilla" we have:
- Both been successful in training and certifying as Front Line Managers at a new and difficult facility.
- Lived in 5 different locations while sleeping in the same bed and learned more about our locale in one year than most of the residents have in 20 years.
- Purchased a sailboat.
- Made a noticeable difference to some other people, both inside and ouotside of the workplace.

So, we're here a year. Not so bad after all? .. well, there's the traffic....

The next year promises to be filled to the brim with more changes and challenges and opportunities. We will try to hold on while we race toward slowing down.  Here's to another one, not like the other one!