May 29, 2004 ~ Tremendously Wonderful News
Saturday.
"Where months ago you two were agonizing over where to go with your lives, what difficult decisions to make, suddenly a new path showed up. One that wasn't there before. Opened by others who had their own agendas, yet their solution became yours as well. It does make one wonder about Providence, doesn't it? And falling stars that light a path."
Aye, it does. That's a quote from Grouse's congratulatory letter after I told him the wonderful news. Falling stars and destiny have been on my mind ever since I heard, and his words sum up my own thoughts. One does wonder...
What in tarnation are you talking about, Melissa? What is this news, and where does the "path" lead?
Yes, I know. I've been holding back. I'm sorry, but I couldn't let the secret out in this public forum until now. Until we knew.
Months ago, Morgan and I made a difficult decision. We chose to pursue starting a family rather than graduate school for him, what had been a dream of his. Grad school, we decided, would come much later. We started making tentative plans for Morgan to settle on teaching high school. It wasn't his dream of teaching college, but it was a career he could pursue in the mean time. A compromise. Later, we could pursue moving to a grad school.
But then came the wolves. The wolves changed a lot. The wolves made Morgan re-evaluate what he wanted to do with his life. They made him realize that there were a lot of causes and goals that are more important to him than pursuing a professorship. They made him realize how rooted he is in this place. They made him realize that he'd rather have land and a house of our own, time to volunteer for causes like the wolves, years of settling into a life.
But in order to afford a house, in order to ever stay here yet live anything more than hand to mouth, Morgan needed to find a career more stable and dependable and fulfilling than the restaurant industry.
And then, as if on cue, a new path, a new possibility opened up. More perfect for us than we ever hoped to arrange. Months ago, Morgan started preparing. Studying late every day, polishing his skills and learning new ones. Then, when the position was announced in the beginning of April, he applied. He jumped through a lot of hoops. The resume, then the essay questions, then the phone interview, then an day-long interview with numerous departments, then more phone questions and one more in person interview. Then we waited and hoped and prayed. We knew it was risky to put all of our hope on this one little chance, all of our plans hanging by that thread, but leaps of faith are hardly alien to us.
And the day that we expected to get the call passed. I began to worry that perhaps this wouldn't happen, and what would I do to help Morgan keep faith that we could still reach our goals if he was turned down? There are other jobs; they're not as perfect, but there are other jobs.
Yes, things have been very tense around here, for the past two months.
Thursday afternoon, I took my hike and sat in the woods on the far side of Suicide Ridge, watching the sun in the leaves and inexplicably feeling very calm and happy. Stress had all melted away. When I came back to the car, I just had this feeling that I needed to call Morgan.
"What just happened?" I asked when he answered.
I could hear the smile in the pause, then he said, "Well, I just got off the phone with the college..."
A huge grin spread across my face. "And?"
"We've got it!"
Morgan is now the new web director at the college. It's a brand new position. Yes, the college where I work, the college that we both graduated from. Web design will be meaningful, creative work, in the community we both love, and for a cause that he believes in (the college). He'll be in that academic environment that he craves, and will have a crew of students to supervise and teach.
We'll be able to carpool together. We can hike together every afternoon, eat lunch together in the cafeteria with our friends at the college. In a few months, we can apply for the inexpensive college-subsidized housing on campus, where we can live on much less for a year or two and save to buy a house. His salary alone will be more than we make jointly now, so we should be able to put my entire salary in savings, and some of his. The benefits are spectacular. When we have kids, if I stop working, we'll still have health insurance, which was a worry before. And in a few years, we can afford a house and land. I can have a garden, and we can raise children the way that we wish to.
Most importantly, Morgan's position at the college means stability. Community. Support. Security. Meaningful work. What more could we ask?
This new path brings with it so many beautiful possibilities. It's as if everything has shifted into place, and I can see clearly now. Ah yes, it does make one think about falling stars and Providence.
And all I can say, now, is thank you. Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you. Thank you to the universe for unfolding as it should. Thank you to the Source, which lit the way.
And if you'll excuse me, Morgan and I have some celebrating to do. I've not stopped grinning for days.
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