Life is Stranger Than Fiction

4 Replies, 1653 Views

Just went through one of those tightly wound up nexus decision points in life where so much happens in such a short period of time,  and you can feel the weight of the future bearing down on a small point in time. Predictably a few odd coincidences / synchronicities showed up. I'll try to condense this as much as possible because I know my life is far more interesting to me than it is to you.

A couple months ago, my wife and I decided that she should move on from her job and look elsewhere. She wants to be in the big city which is a big change from where we are now... but we'd also like to keep our current house in the country because it is beautiful, peaceful, we had our wedding out there, I spent a solid year working my ass off to renovate it making it just the way we like it, etc... We also might use the property in a business venture. 

I really like my current job, and wanted to keep it so I was hoping my boss (the owner) would allow me to work remote 3/4 of the month and come in 1 week a month. Didn't know if he would go for that or not so I was trying to keep it a secret because I didn't want both of us to suddenly be out of a job at the same time. 

So a few weeks ago we went down to the big city - I don't know why I'm being vague... the city is Austin - to meet with a realtor and begin dipping our toe into the overpriced real estate market there. I had printed off the realtor agreement at work the Friday before we left.

Unbeknownst to me, this realtor agreement printed twice and a copy remained on the printer. (Coincidence #1)

So the following Monday, long story short, my wife resigned on a shorter time-frame than was planned, which put a sudden (panicked?) rush on our plans to move and get her a new job. (Coincidence #2)

Then I got a text from my boss that evening saying he found the Realtor Agreement on the printer and was wondering if he needed to be worried. "OH F***!" I said.

I immediately called him and apologized and said I wanted to work for him as long as he'd let me, but that we had decided we were moving to Austin soon and I was hoping he'd allow me to work remote part of the month. He was very agreeable about it and said we could work something out.

The next day, his tune changed a bit and he really wanted me to stay here... he started dropping hints about what he would offer me to stay... so we decided that we should consider this opportunity.

That same Friday, I met my wife and her co-worker at a local bar/restaurant that we rarely ever go to as it is in a different city than we normally go to for Friday dinners, and my boss happened to be there and he bought our meals and drinks. (Coincidence #3)

So then we spent the weekend deliberating over this big decision of whether or not to accept his offer... and we still didn't know exactly what he was offering yet.

The Saturday that we were deliberating, the dogs let me know that a car full of sweet elderly sharply dressed Jehovah's Witnesses had showed up in the driveway, so I went out to see what the barking was about and a little old man stepped out and handed me the latest copy of the Watchtower which I rolled up without glancing at the cover. We exchanged pleasantries and said goodbye. For some reason I left the copy of the watchtower lying on the kitchen counter instead of throwing it away (Coincidence #4) and I still didn't really look at it... I was very busy and we also had a big decision to make!

We decided to see what my boss would offer, so on Monday I treated this like a fresh job application, and made a long list of goals I had for the engineering department and what I could offer the company, and on the back I wrote the three items that I wanted: a raise in the amount roughly equivalent to my wife's salary, double my vacation, and a company vehicle. He read my list and was so happy with everything and gave me all I asked for (which is funny because a week before I had asked to leave the office a bit early that day, and he jokingly growled, "What do you want! I'll give you anything you want, just don't ask for more money!"). He was already paying me more than average for an engineering manager in this area - very generous considering I only manage one person. I told him he was offering me very generous executive level treatment, so I know he expects executive level performance (so that is why I've been too busy to participate much here lately).

We were pretty blown away by his generosity and the sudden change in our fortunes.

I got home that day still a bit buzzed from everything that had just happened and I finally noticed the cover of the JW Watchtower that was lying on the kitchen counter, and it said, "What Does the Future Hold?" (Coincidence #5)
[Image: IMG-4409.jpg]

So now my wife is free to start her own business or do contract work or both... or she might still get a job in Austin for a while, and I'll come down there on the weekends. At any rate, we're greatly freed up now and very fortunate how this all worked out. If the timing had been different on anything I'm not sure it would have worked out the way that it did.

Additionally, a few weeks prior to all of this, I was cogitating on the nature of the will embedded in the mechanism and the reality of it struck me, so I had a sudden burst of faith in our ability to mentally create our own reality, so I decided to ride that wave of faith and do a little magical meditation on some of my life goals and I threw in the salary/compensation I wanted because... why the hell not..., so now mere weeks later, I'm getting exactly what I had mentally set as my goal. (Coincidence #6)
(This post was last modified: 2018-11-26, 09:17 PM by Hurmanetar.)
[-] The following 12 users Like Hurmanetar's post:
  • Ninshub, diverdown, Obiwan, Doug, Brian, Silence, Laird, Raimo, Mediochre, Oleo, Stan Woolley, Typoz
There is a little bit more to this story that I can share now...

One more life changing event occurred around this time... undoubtedly the most significant of them all... Oh boy, I'm going to be a Dad! Smile  We're due in August!
[-] The following 7 users Like Hurmanetar's post:
  • Ninshub, diverdown, Obiwan, Raimo, Typoz, Silence, Doug
(2019-03-26, 02:42 PM)Hurmanetar Wrote: There is a little bit more to this story that I can share now...

One more life changing event occurred around this time... undoubtedly the most significant of them all... Oh boy, I'm going to be a Dad! Smile  We're due in August!

Congratulations Hurmanetar!

Great news for you.  Glad to hear you got a raise first!
[-] The following 1 user Likes North's post:
  • Hurmanetar
(2019-03-29, 04:58 PM)North Wrote: Congratulations Hurmanetar!

Great news for you.  Glad to hear you got a raise first!

Thanks! Very happy! Smile
Been going through a bit of a tumultuous week and in the middle of all that we got a torrential rain and my dining/living room and kitchen flooded. I assumed the water overran the foundation and came in, but after a couple days of sucking up gallons of water the water just kept coming so I began to suspect a busted pipe. That is in fact the issue. I guess there was so much water that the soil liquefied and the foundation shifted causing a break. 

Well Saturday, I was outside trying to dig out some of the landscaping to let the water drain better and noticed another Jehovah's Witness publication stuck in my door. I thought to myself how the last one seemed to carry a synchronous message, so perhaps this one will too... I opened it up and it gave me a chuckle:
[Image: IMG-0829.jpg]
(This post was last modified: 2019-05-06, 09:43 PM by Hurmanetar.)
[-] The following 2 users Like Hurmanetar's post:
  • Ninshub, diverdown

  • View a Printable Version
Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 3 Guest(s)