Gosh life can be funny sometimes.
And by funny I mean at the time it’s really hard and then later down the track you might laugh about it.
Some days run along uneventfully and your comfortable and can just fit in with it. Your in it, doing it, getting by and it’s ok.
Then, like someone has dropped one of those comical weight bells on you, your pushed down, sink under and the swell of life and all it’s struggles takes you out into the deep dark sea.
That’s kind of how I have felt on and off over the last month or so.
We have had our struggles, our little family, in recent weeks.
The last 4 months have been fairly trying, with moving interstate and all.
But just when we thought we were settling in here in Melbourne, one of those weight bells got dropped.
My husband lost his job.
The big, wonderful, surprising, challenging leap of faith that he took, suddenly felt like he was just falling, plummeting even.
To make a long story short about the reasons why he was being let go, and without going into too much detail, basically his boss just didn’t like him, from the very beginning (even though she hired him), she made his work life hell, sucked out every ounce of confidence and self belief out of him, chewed him up and spat him out, all within his three month probation (a week before the end of it infact) which meant she could ‘get away with it’. It had nothing to do with his performance or work ethic, and everything to do with her being a bully.
Everyone else around him in the company were completely shocked and outraged. It was just really unfair.
We found this out on the day we found out DinoGirl had finally been accepted into a Kindergarten class.
Gutted.
He was gutted.
I was hopeful and optimistic and supportive.
I was being the strong one, as you do, when something really shitty happens to someone you love.
Husband immediately started thinking and planning for the worst case scenario, which was that he or I wouldn’t find another job in time and we would have no money left and have to move back to Brisbane, move in with his parents (again for the 2nd time) with our tails between our legs.
He felt he had failed us.
He couldn’t have been further from the truth.
In that moment, of him feeling so low and defeated, I felt more love and pride for him than ever before.
The guy had taken a leap and aimed high and taking some chances in life is something I will always admire. He had brought us to Melbourne, a beautiful city I’d barely been too before and had fallen in love with. I will forever be grateful just even for that.
I know how hard this guy works.
He gives his all to every job and role.
He’ the guy that people make comments about like “well he’s never been afraid of work”, and “he’s such a hard worker”.
He would tell me a little bit about the shit he had to deal with on a daily basis from his boss, and that after two weeks of being there he was being threaten with his job by his boss, and it worried me a little, but I never thought it would ever actually happen.
He was given a few weeks notice, “out of the goodness of her heart” (her words, not mine) so that atleast we had some time to look for jobs and get ourselves sorted.
But we stressed and worried and thought of every possible outcome and scenario.
We told our families and some friends and just focused on ourselves and my husband finding a new job.
I started looking for work an we even considered my working full time again and my Husband being a SAHDad. But I just would not be able to make enough money in retail (my background) to cover our expenses, and Ofcourse out expenses were a little higher in Melbourne than in Brisbane.
We both started to feel the pressure and I started to feel homesick and miss my Mum and friends like crazy.
A lot of my close friends have lived away, but they never felt further away than they did now.
Finally a friend mentioned his Dad needed new staff to start straight away in a high end car dealership as a sales consultant.
A little left of field for my teaching and education background Husband, but not completely different, he did work in retail and managed shops while he studied at Uni, so it wasn’t a completely ridiculous idea. And it was a job, that he could start at straight away.
They loved him and hired him straight away.
So it turns out he’s actually pretty good at it! He’s only been there a week, but he’s a natural and he’s enjoying it. It’s no where near as stressful, but it is longer hours, and an hour away on the north side Of Melbourne, but it’s saved our butts at a time that we needed saving and was some good luck.
A few days after he left his old job, he got a call to say that HR and the big bosses were looking into his old bosses performance and actions and were investigating all his claims in his final exit email.
A little bit of good news.
Then, in amongst all of this, after two years of trying unsuccessfully for a second baby, my body started playing tricks on me.
But that’s another little story for another blog post.
After all of this, after all the stress and drama, I’m still really happy we moved to Melbourne.
We needed the change for ourselves, and you gotta take those chances.
It’s been a good learning adventure for our family.
Always moving onwards and upwards I say, never backwards, just forwards.
But a little less stress now for a while would be good…?
Liz x TJC x
thejoycollective 