Monday, October 20, 2008

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" - John Lennon



It is truly amazing the curve balls life can dish out. You are planning for one thing, and BOOM! it is no longer an option. Case in point...


In July I got a promotion at work. A great position, challenging, and pretty fun too. Not too shabby. They also asked me to relocate, but gave me until January when our lease ends at our current place. So we started preparing to move to Portland, and started to get pretty excited about it!


But of course, Luana and I both missed Disney. It is a fun place to work and appeals to all the goofy/sappiness I have inside. The plan was to work in Portland for a year or so, and then try to make our way back to Disney after getting a lot more experience under my belt.


Then on Wednesday last, I found out my position is being eliminated effective Dec. 31st. Suddenly we are no longer moving to Portland. We have to figure out something else entirely.


Here's the funny part (and the "this can't be a coincidence" part) - Around the end of September, I started applying for a lot of positions with Disney on both coasts. Anything I felt qualified for, really. I was of the mindset that if something happened and came up, we'd explore that option. But nothing serious. I really just wanted to keep in the habit of checking their postings.


So suddenly in search of a job and really wanting to return to Disney, I find myself having already applied for a number of positions. Most of them had already closed by the time I found out my job was over, so if I had waited I would not have been able to apply. I love having reaffirmation that someone out there (and I mean God, you knuckleheads) is aware of the plight of two newlyweds who just want the best for each other (I mean Ben and Luana this time).


The other amazing part of this is that once again my "bad news radar" kicked in. I have this strange ability to know (and I don't mean have a bad feeling, I mean to absolutely know without any question in my mind) when bad things are about to happen. Things that hit me on a personal level. For instance, I have NEVER been dumped by a girl save I knew the night before that it was going to happen the next day. NEVER. And it isn't that I'm perceptive, because it isn't a suspicion or a feeling, it is a knowledge. Strange. I even knew my Dad had passed away before I found out about it (a few weeks before we found out about it, which is eerie, because we had passed a few weeks before we found out about it).


Anyway, that morning as I drove to work I knew that I would be getting severance that day. I just did. It didn't come as any surprise at all.


So everything considered I think this will work out for the best. If it wasn't so obvious to me that our path is definitely being directed, I would be worried. But clearly God is in control. And I have a feeling he knows what he's doing.


So now the hard part... being motivated to do my job knowing that what I'm doing right now really doesn't have much meaning to me. It is almost as if I'm a little trunky. And as they are eliminating the position and transitioning duties to other folks, I find myself with less to do. So send me an email, and I'll probably read it right away.


Disney, here we come (again)!

Seriously, though... was it really necessary to fly this guy in?

8 comments:

James Best said...

Well, good luck my friend. Something will turn up. Disney won't let you down, my friend. And if they do, I'll execute one Donald's nephews every hour until they do.

That's the kind of friend I am.

Ben P. said...

That's how I got my first job with Disney, actually.

Andrew Hill said...

Yikes! Good thing your company decided to cut your position BEFORE you moved. Keep us posted on Disney. Good luck!

Ben P. said...

Yeah, I think that is one of the reasons they let us know so far out so that we wouldn't continue to make plans to move to Portland.

Anonymous said...

Yet another entry in the ongoing series "Jeff finds out all his news about his closest relatives second or third-hand." Well, at least Josh will be happy, since he told me the other day that he's sad all his friends keep moving away. And another bright side: now you won't be living in the same mission where Junior will be serving!

And yes, I know, technically this is a first-hand source since you wrote it, so I guess a better way to put it would be that this was an impersonal way to find out. At least it's better than

MOM'S LETTER:Annelise's pregnancy is working out better this time. She's now past the six-month mark.

ME:Annelise's pregnant?!?!?

Ben P. said...

Don't worry, Jeff... we hadn't really told anyone except our two Moms (I mean Mom and Luana's Mom, not some Neil Simonesque* diviation of the crappy '80's sitcom).

*obscure reference to "The Odd Couple: Female Version."

Jamie said...

I could not be more excited.

Anonymous said...

The weird thing was that Mom told me I was pregnant at the six month mark too!!!!

Anyway, this is to Jeff's response...I found out through Kjersti...but Mom was excited that she found out before me.