• About
  • Speaking
  • Consulting
  • Amber Hinds

  • Journal
  • Press
  • Contact

Amber Hinds

Gillette, WY
Life
/
December 6, 2013

And Then Life Happened

November was the craziest roller coaster of a month.  Never in my life have I seen something go from rosy and perfect to miserable and horrible so quickly.  One week Chris was cooking in a cabin in the Big Horns for Dick Cheney and just a week later everything was turned upside down.  Honestly, when I think back on everything, I still have absolutely no idea what happened.  I’m mystified at how the owners of Jordans acted (and still are acting) and I am more than a little disappointed that something we were so excited for and were thrilled to be a part of ended in as it did, so quickly and unexpectedly.  I guess that is life…or something.

I had planned to write a post today about the logistics.  I can imagine many of you were wondering how it was that Chris could just up and quit his job when he is our main income source, and so I thought it might be worth addressing.   Essentially, between his one-week paycheck delay and the vacation pay that was owed to him, plus some income I have coming in, when he quit we knew that we had enough income to budget our way through December.  After December, the plan was for Chris’ family to help us out and for me to make whatever I could building websites.

I’ll not say that relying on family was something I really wanted to do.  It is a point of pride that we managed to navigate last year’s unemployment without asking our families for help, and though they have certainly helped us out with clothes for the girls and the occasional financial gift along the way, we have been proud to have brought ourselves to where we are in life on our own (in contrast to much of what you read about millennials).  Thus, I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be putting ourselves in a position of relying on family for the first time, but the help was offered and when it came down to it (accepting help from family versus continuing down the current road), putting pride aside sounded much like the lesser of the two evils.  As you can imagine, there was a lot, and I mean A LOT, of anxiety about putting our family in such a precarious financial situation.  I’m not good with change even when it is clearly beneficial to me — I was scared three years ago to quit my job and move to Nantucket, and we all know how awesomely that turned out — so voluntarily (if you can really call it that) putting ourselves in a situation with no income, relying on the generosity of others, was considerably more worrisome.  But given the situation that we were in and the impact it was having on our family, especially Nora and Zara, we decided to take the plunge no matter how scary it felt.

I will be eternally grateful for the family who offered to help us get ourselves out of a bad situation.  If we had not had the family support we do, quitting without another job lined up never would have been an option.  I cannot express how lucky I feel to have had this option.  Many people do not and spend lifetimes slogging through misery as a result.  I am so thankful for the family who made it possible for us to enact change in our lives at a reduced risk.

When Chris quit, we had our hopes set on a different job opportunity so we weren’t completely without an idea of what might come next.  As it turned out, that job possibility did come to fruition and Chris will be starting his new job Monday morning, exactly two weeks after he pulled the plug on JORDANS.  I cannot tell you how lucky I feel that this opportunity worked out.  Not only did come quickly (before we ran out of our own funds and had to ask for some from family), but it also is going to be a great change of pace for our family.  This new job, still in the food industry but no longer in a restaurant, is going to going to give Chris something we have much needed in the past months: time at home with family.  He is going to be working on a school schedule, Monday-Friday, summers off.  After eight months of him seeing the girls less than 12 hours per week, sometimes seeing them for only minutes each week, this is going to be like heaven on earth.  It may not have all the glory of restaurant life but it will definitely come with some pretty amazing benefits.

Of course, the sticky part is that Chris’ new job is in a town about four hours away from us.  Sooo…here we go again.  It’s time to move again.  When I thought we were done.  And, of course, this time we own a house, which we now have to sell and hope we don’t lose too much money on.  I’ve been kicking myself a little for rushing into buying the house, but really what can I say?  There is no way we could have foreseen the situation that arose.  Absolutely none.  This wasn’t something that happened gradually over time with warning signs, it literally sprung up overnight when we thought everything was fine and dandy.  So now I just have to do what I do best, which is stay optimistic and find the joy in it.  I’ve been telling myself, this is just one twist in the road of life and it will be something to laugh about years from now.    It will all be worth it in the end.

So, uh, anyone want to buy a house?

TAGS:Jordan's Western DiningMoving
0 Comments
Share

Leave a Comment Cancel Comment

Recipe Rating




Previous Post
The SNAP/Food Stamps Challenge
Next Post
SNAP Challenge Week 1

Life Right Now

aucoeur

View

Feb 7

8 1
Open
I started a podcast with Chris and our business partner, Steve! We'll be releasing episodes every Monday on website accessibility and craft beverages. Check it out or subscribe at AccessibilityCraft.com.

#podcast #podcaster #accessibility #accessibilityforall #accessibilitymatters #accessible #a11y #WordPress #webdesign #webdevelopment #websitedesign #ux #usability

aucoeur

View

Jan 22

13 2
Open
It's that time again... Girl Scout cookies! And this year we have two selling. Help them meet their cookies sales goals by ordering online. 

If you live nearby, choose girl delivery and help get cookie boxes out of our garage... Otherwise we're going to be giving them Girl Scout  Cookies for birthday and Christmas presents all year.

Addie's link: https://tinyurl.com/2os3rmdy

Zara's link: https://tinyurl.com/2nev4fs3

aucoeur

View

Nov 30

15 2
Open
Bus stop selfie with Nora. This week she moved from her tiny charter school with only 18 eighth graders to the public middle school with over 200. And now she rides the bus.

The charter school wasn't challenging her enough, has a huge percentage of students who are disruptive in the classroom, and has been having trouble keeping teachers. Last year she loved it. But this year it was one thing after another, so right before Thanksgiving she and I went to go tour our neighborhood  middle school, and she immediately wanted to make the switch.

We've never had a kid in public school and I was nervous about how the transition would go from such a small school to a big one, but so far she's loving it and is glad she decided to move schools. It helps that she knows kids there already from her dance team. Hopefully she'll still be happy when she starts getting homework. Coming from a no homework school that may be a shock to us all.

aucoeur

View

Nov 16

7 0
Open
My three year old girl. ๐Ÿ’•

aucoeur

View

Nov 1

11 0
Open
Halloween 2022. Two witches, a murderous cat, and a creepy Victorian doll. 

Zara's costume was my favorite this year - Nora did her makeup and she wore my flower girl dress from my mom and step-dad's wedding. She might have worn it better. ๐Ÿ˜‚
  • Start Reading
  • Explore Topics
  • Get in Touch
  • Subscribe

COPYRIGHT ยฉ 2020 AMBER HINDS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Site Powered by Pix & Hue.