About two weeks ago I looked down at my hand as I was putting on my coat to leave work and realized I didn't have my wedding ring on. I was pretty sure I had put it on that morning but I wasn't positive. Jason and my friend Erica were waiting for me to carpool home and I didn't want them to have to wait for me so I left work hoping to find my ring in my ring box when I got home. Well, I worried most of the way home and hurried to my ring box hoping to find my ring. It was not there, which meant only one thing--I had lost it at work.
I called my project manager on her cell phone hoping she would still be at work. She was driving home but gave me the office number of another designer, Heather, she thought might still be there. By this time it was about 5:30. I called Heather and was very relieved to hear her voice at the other end of the line. I quickly told her about my situation and asked if she would please look around my cubicle to see if she could see my ring anywhere. I waited on the line while she checked. She came back a few minutes later only to report that she couldn't find it anywhere around my desk, on the floor, in the garbage, etc. She said she would quickly check the bathroom and the break room just in case. Again I waited, hoping and praying she would find it somewhere. A few minutes later she came back on the line and said, "Julie, you are never going to guess where I found your ring....." "Where," I said. "In the bathroom garbage can!" she replied.
Apparently after I had washed my hands a few hours earlier, my ring had slipped off while I was drying my hands and I had thrown it away! If Heather had not have found it right then, that garbage can would have been emptied about two hours later by the nightly janitorial crew. What a blessing! I was so grateful for such a quick and miraculous recovery of my wedding ring, a gift that would be very difficult and costly to replace.
Apparently sometimes you find things even when you're not looking for them. I heard about a job where one of my former co-workers worked. She has since had a baby and quit working, but she had some really positive things to say about it. Anyway I decided to look into it. The more I learned about the company, the more I liked it. Eventually I applied to an Instructional Design position. I had three interviews in about three weeks and then after waiting for what seemed like an eternity, I was officially offered the job. The company is called Imagine Learning and is located in North Provo near the mouth of Provo Canyon. One good description of the company can be found on their website, it says:
"Imagine Learning is your language and literacy solution, providing award-winning educational software to hundreds of thousands of students in schools across the United States and around the world. Students receive one-on-one instruction through thousands of engaging activities specifically designed to meet their individual needs and provide real results."
So instead of focusing on corporate training I would be working on designing online literacy activities for struggling readers generally K-6th grade. Since my background is in elementary education, I feel like it's a better fit for my skills and interests. I've heard a lot of good things about the company and their culture. I'm also excited about getting a raise and better benefits. All around it just seems to be a good choice to change jobs.
I plan to accept the offer on Tuesday and will then start working in Provo the first full week of March. With changing jobs it's likely that we will also move as well. Jason is currently taking classes at the BYU Salt Lake Center but plans to take classes in Provo during Spring and Summer. If we're both going to be commuting to Provo we figure we might as well live there. We won't move until at least the end of April and not until we find another place to live that we really like.
This change is exciting and scary at the same time, but I believe it is a blessing for us in many ways. It will be interesting to see what is in store for us in Provo.
