Happy Northridge Anniversary

One year ago this week, I started working for Northridge Publishing. I realize that remembering the exact date I started working is a little odd, and celebrating a work anniversary is perhaps a bit much (I'm really into milestones, okay?) but it was nothing short of a miracle that I got this job. Literally. I blogged about it last year when everything fell into place, but I wasn't really able to articulate the full experience. Now that I have a little perspective, I'm even more grateful for everything that happened.

Right before Tim and I got married, I moved back to Utah from Pittsburgh and got a job as an assistant at a real estate office pretty quickly. While I was just grateful to have a job, it was a fairly terrible experience. It took a year of being miserable for me to really consider looking for a new job. But jobs were (and are) so scarce that I just couldn't find a way to justify quitting a job that was our main source of income until I had another one lined up. Tim and I went to the temple around this time and, without giving too many details, I came away very clearly knowing that I needed to find a different employment situation.

I ended up working at the real estate office for six more weeks before being officially done, and in that time, I sent out a lot of resumes. I had a couple of interviews but nothing that took. When my job ended, I still didn't have anything lined up. I was not very calm, at that point. Some days I was okay, and other days I was a basket case wondering what in the world we were going to do come September when our money ran out. The other part of this (rather long, sorry) story is that Tim quit his part time job at the same time (it was an incredibly terrible work environment that was damaging to his emotional, mental, and spiritual well being, to put it simply), so we were really running out of time and money. Tim was always confident that we'd be okay, but wavered in my faith that we would be provided for.

Then, wanting to make sure I covered all my bases, I emailed again about one of the jobs I found on Craigslist that had sounded great -- writing and editing for a scrapbooking magazine -- but hadn't heard back from. This time, I got an enthusiastic response and the instructions for the writing exercises that were the next part of the process. I went through the exercises carefully and actually called my dad to get a little help ("So what's a die cut again? And what do you think a Scor-Pal is?") and a few weeks later, I had an interview with Pam, the editor-in-chief of the magazines. It was a great interview and by the end of it, I felt really, really good about the job.

Pam called to offer me the job a short time later, but I didn't accept it then. I was waiting to hear back about another job that offered a larger salary and benefits, and I didn't want to risk taking the sure job and missing out on what I thought was the better opportunity. I debated and worried and prayed very fervently, let me tell you.

The day that I needed to give Pam an answer, Tim had an interview for an IT intern position. He came home feeling great about the job -- it was perfect for what he was looking for -- and sure enough, thirty minutes after the interview had ended, they called to offer him the position, starting immediately. The more we talked about our situation, the more I realized that as great as the salary and benefits would be, I didn't really want that other job and there was no guarantee I'd get it. I felt much more comfortable and excited about working for Northridge, it was everything I needed/wanted/was looking for, and the more I thought about it, more the I felt right about it. I called Pam that night and gave her the good news, and everything she said during that conversation confirmed to me that yes indeed, this was where I was supposed to be.

Here's the part of this that always gets me: that very eventful day was the last day of August. As of September 1st, Tim and I were both employed. The income we had carefully planned and budgeted for the summer lasted us through August, but how we were going to eat or pay rent in September, we didn't know. And then just like that, we were completely taken care of.

It was one of those rare moments when I could see so clearly the hand of the Lord in our lives. We had been blessed with so much more than we had expected, and a year later, the blessings still keep coming. I know that if I'd gotten that other job, it would have been another stressful, unhappy experience that I would eventually look forward to quitting. As it is, I love my job and I look forward to coming to work. I love the flexibility I have, I love the people I work with, and I love the new crafting talents I am developing. Most of all, I love being good at what I do, and even though it's not a position I ever expected to be in (Me? Scrapbooking?), I'm so grateful to be here. And I'm even grateful to know all about die cuts, too.

So happy anniversary, Northridge! I am looking forward to a lot more of these!