the cold, hard truth

It's no secret that I haven't loved living in our small town of southern Utah. I was heart broken to leave our friends and the fun we had while living up north! Then Eric's job ended up being extremely demanding with hardly the compensation he (or most of the employees) deserved. Then there started to be drama, as most small towns often entertain, lies and just plain bull crap which made me really hate his job. I had a horrible attitude which put a major strain on our marriage, and it took me a long time to realize that I was causing more problems, on top of everything else Eric was going through :( Sometimes I'm really stubborn, really prideful and really hard headed... which means I often learn lessons the hard way.
I finally decided to suck it up and be the wife that Eric needed me to be- understanding and encouraging. I did my best to hold my tongue when it came to complaining about his job, etc. Our home life improved immensely but Eric's work life continued to spiral downward as he gave them everything he had, and they just kept taking. I/we prayed daily for a change. Eric interviewed multiple times and landed multiple job offers, but nothing ever felt like the right fit. We were frustrated time and time again when there was always one thing about the job offer that wasn't right for us. I knew we were doomed to be here forever, ha ha. To be honest, the town grew on me... we made some really amazing friendships (life long friendships, no doubt!), I took advantage of our close proximity to National Parks and hiked to our hearts content, we really, REALLY love our doctor (wish we could take him with us to AZ!) and of course the blessing of living closer to our families! But being the proud wifey that I am, I believed that Eric deserved the best when it came to work! I know there is crap at any and every job, but there's no way to describe the stuff that Eric had to deal with, and we wanted out!
Then Eric suddenly lost his job. What a shock it was that the company closed their doors with no heads up (we felt like Eric should have had a warning since he was in a management position). Oh, I was mad! Like seeing red, violent feelings, losing sleep kind of mad. Not to mention the fact that I had daydreamed for so long of the day that Eric could march in there and quit because of the "amazing" job offer he received... That would be my pride talkin'! Obviously I needed to be humbled. Looking back, I feel ashamed that my reaction was so horrible, but I was in shock and I still have a lot to learn about handling shock gracefully :) A couple days later, as the anger simmered away, we realized that this was the answer to our prayers... just a totally different answer than we wanted. But we were finally free and the options were endless! I just knew that this was our ticket out of small town, southern Utah!
A week and a half later, Eric was blessed with a job offer (with the most amazing insurance I've ever heard of!) and while I was disappointed that we were staying, I was SO grateful! I have been so positive and supportive, just the wife I should have been from the very beginning and life has been great! But then Eric got a phone call from Arizona, one that he almost had no interest to even call back. We had agreed to always find out every detail before turning something down to avoid the "what ifs" so Eric called them back. Little did we know that this was the phone call that opened all the doors we'd been praying for!
We are feeling so hopeful, positive and excited for this opportunity in Arizona! We are excited to be in a suburb just outside of Phoenix... we've missed living close to a city! We've learned to take advantage of where we live, and we are going to have SO much fun enjoying all that the city has to offer. Plus, you really can't beat being able to swim (outside) year 'round ;) I know that we will encounter less than ideal situations with the job, neighbors, etc- it could be anything, but I learned a hard lesson these past 3 years and I know that I will be able to handle it all so much more gracefully, without pulling everyone around me down, if that makes sense? Looking back on our 3 years in small town, southern Utah, there is a lot I wish I could change, but since I can't, I am grateful for the knowledge I gained from our trials and experiences and I'm excited to take advantage to live a happier, more positive life! I'm so happy that Eric finally has the opportunity he deserves at work, and it will be neat to see him learn, grow and excel even more in his profession! Wish us luck on our new adventure :)