These 1,329 days have been quite the chapter in my journey. It's my own personal story of the Great Recession; many of you have similar stories.In actuality, my recession story begins with its own "day of infamy" - December 7, 2007. On that day, in Phoenix, the boss with Aspire made two alarming decisions: First, that she would lay me off at the end of the day, while I was blissfully unaware of any impending trouble of any kind; and that she would conveniently leave town and delegate the pink-slipping to two other associates in the company...one of whom had been at the company for ten days. Surprise, surprise, surprise!
So, from another perspective, it's been 1,536 days since the Great Recession began for me. Of course, getting into the job hunt unexpectedly is enough to create plenty of anxiety, even though in late 2007/early 2008 most of us were still clueless as to how bad things were going to get. However, it was the decision I had to make to leave Denver - to leave home, as it were, not to mention my wonderful home in Lowry that I had had built and for which I had carefully detailed every upgrade, color and finish - that imprinted TROUBLE AHEAD for me.
I certainly could have stayed in Atlanta and worked for one of the best bosses on the planet - Bob Mruz and Noble Investment Group truly believed in performance excellence, and it was a delight to get to work with such wonderful, friendly people. But as the Great Recession continued, and as "green shoots" began to dominate the political discussion in '09, I admittedly got restless. Atlanta would never be my home; my home is Colorado. (Oh, yes, it's Kansas too, but even in the best of times there aren't many jobs matching up with my skill set in Pburg!)
Off to Texas I went. As I convinced myself, Austin was much more similar to Denver than Atlanta, and it was "halfway home." I hoped to work a few years in Austin and then make my way back.
And the Great Recession bit again! This time, I had seen it coming - Sears is likely in an end game as a going concern - and I started working on getting home much earlier than I had originally planned. On August 12, I received a TBNT phone call from a wonderful oil/gas company in Denver; I took the call, remained gracious, said "ah well" after hanging up, and continued my job search. The very next day, August 13, I ran into my second reduction in force of these economic times. Once again, my boss couldn't be bothered to be there in person; this one happened over the phone in about 90 seconds.
The second time around at the layoff rodeo, I felt...relieved. I had been looking to leave in any case; this was a bit more of a push-out than I preferred, but it did prompt me to completely re-evaluate life, the universe and everything. I want to be in Denver. Somehow, Colorado calls to me. This was a perfect opportunity to make that happen, one way or another.
Bill and Gary, the two best friends in best friendom, offered up half their house for me, no questions asked, so I could have a base in Denver from which to re-enter (again!) the job market. Without them, my goal of returning home would have been gravely more difficult. I can't thank them enough, but will continue to do so as long as I'm drawing air.
And, after many leads, dozens of interviews and all the inevitable TBNTs, a wonderful lady at my new "financial services" company has taken a chance, and as of tomorrow, I'm back home and back in my own house.One thousand, three hundred twenty-nine days. I cannot imagine anyone in the country predicting that this recession would last over four years. But finally...finally...I see hope on the horizon. We're moving forward. Slowly, yes, but forward.
More to come as I plan a housewarming party and the inevitable poker night!
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