And sometimes, the Universe looks out for you.

Moving to Massachusetts was one of the hardest transitions in my life. In the first six months, I did not adjust well. I was bitter, angry and resentful I had been uprooted from the relative comfort and familiarity of our three years together in Maryland. I wasn't finding a good career fit in a field that I had finally cracked into without my master's (student affairs/residence life) and was becoming a bit disillusioned with the whole experience. Living in student housing became less of that well-rounded res life professional experience and more of a necessary evil. I've shed a lot of tears, had many late night arguments, and plenty of panic attacks just related to my work situations over the last three years.

Yesterday, I finally felt like I've gotten some payoff for the three years of strife that have seemed to follow me wherever I go.

I've been promoted at work! And not just a monetary promotion - but a promotion that took into account my vision for what I can really do for my department, my university, and ultimately the 3,400 students that live in housing here. My feeling of stifled creativity for the past year is gone: I've been presented with the opportunities along the horizon and the freedom to run toward it and blaze a trail. I feel like my work is actually being valued for the first time in three years and being rewarded appropriately.

I've held out and held out and held out, waiting for the right opportunity to come along. I still hope that I can find something full-time in infertility advocacy. I still intend to write voraciously and hopefully finish my book before the year is out and get it in front of agents and publishers. I'm still committed to this blog, my readers, and my advocacy. But for 40 hours a week, love it or hate it, I get paid to work in a very different field. 40 hours a week is a lot of time to be stuck doing something with which you may not be thrilled, so when your boss says that yes, you have been doing a good job and that your vision is valued and we are excited for the possibilities of what you can do with this program - well, it feels damn good for once.

And yes, having a paycheck that reflects that value too is a nice bonus too. This couldn't have been more perfectly timed.

I've known for almost two months that job restructuring was going to happen for me, but I haven't had much news about what exactly was happening. So much was up in the air that I didn't want to post about it for fear that it would all fall through. I did know that come the end of this summer, we would be moving, whether it was to a different apartment on campus or moving off campus entirely. Yesterday I got confirmation that the position has been written as full-time, live OFF - hallelujah!

...Which finally explains this whole house hunting thing I've been promising to post about.

After looking at our finances, buying a house makes a lot more sense than pissing away our money on rent. Larry and I had a very long conversation recently about whether or not we can really afford to do this. Based on my salary as of that conversation, we could do it, but it would be really tight; we wouldn't be able to save like we have been these past three years. This new salary would help us out immensely at being able to save more faster, and thus, start the adoption ball rolling much sooner. The only downside? We need to bid, close, and move in in the next two months, b/c my current housing will be occupied by two students come the first weekend in September.

I'm so grateful and feeling really blessed right now. And after quite possibly the shittiest year on Team Zoll record (I'm lookin' at you, 2009) it would seem that the Universe is finally starting to smile on us.

It's about damn time.


Photo by Irish_Eyes via MorgueFile.com.