That is a great story to hear and it sure comes at a good time. IIRC you were limited in your geographical scope due to the custody arrangement, so even more credit to you for making it happen.

We are completely on the same page about being there for our kids. My daughters do not spend that much of their time with me, unfortunately, but it is extremely important to me to be nearby them and to see them regularly. In the past few days I was contacted about a great sounding job in another state and it fell apart at square two over the need to relocate several hundred miles away.

Thank you for the good wishes. My plan -- and hope is not a plan ;-) -- is to keep a positive attitude, be industrious, and be creative. Otherwise those middle of the night thoughts would eat me up. Part of my plan is to be as open minded as possible. Throw 10,000 things up against the wall and have faith one of them will stick, put it that way. One example already: I am the referee scheduler in the youth soccer region here and put out the word that I am looking for work and would appreciate any job leads. A number of replies have come in already, several of which sound like they have potential. Back to working them.....

Thanks again for the encouragement. It really does help at a time like this.


>I recently left a job of 5 years and accepted a new position which required a relocation. The position before that I held for 7 years but changed jobs when I became a single parent and couldn't spend so much time away from my child anylonger. I wanted to spend my evenings at home with my (then) 10 year old daughter and not someplace repairing networks. This change my goal was originally to relocate to begin with in order to change my daughter's school. Once I made up my mind, everything happened so quickly it amazed me. Found a place to live exactly 1 week before packing the uhaul! I am now 1.6 miles from my daughter's school. Even so, the reality of it all hit me in the middle of the night more than once. Whether the change is voluntary or not, major changes and taking new risks are even more frightening when you are a single parent. I have made a lot of changes in my life and taken unbelievable risks, but this is the first time that I made a major change which also impacted
>my child. No matter how terrifying or unpleasant, attitude makes (or breaks) the experience. I wish you luck Mike! You can do it!
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>>As discerning readers have noticed, I have been extremely unhappy with my job. Crappy company, crappy project, crappy boss. This morning I quit. Like most of us I am scared of the unknown but it feels so good to shed this job. It's like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. For longer than I care to remember I have hated that job within two steps out of bed every morning.
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>>What's next? No idea. The market is not exactly crawling with FoxPro jobs and that is the only thing I have demonstrable skills for. It's going to be a radical change. But hey, in every catastrophe there is opportunity, right? My two closest coworders said the same thing: this is an opportunity. And I am looking at it that way.
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>>My daughters will not be here this weekend so I am going to indulge myself. I am leaving on the 2:48 train downtown and will revisit the Taste of Chicago. After that, the Westin on Michigan Ave. I could use a heavenly bed.