Change

I have worked for the same company since I got out of college. I believe the "company man" is dead, but I honestly could have seen myself working for this same company for my entire career. In general, I like the company. I have faith in my upper management (a rarity in these times). I have faith in the company's strategic plan. I could see a future for myself there.

Or not.

I'm probably giving too much away by saying this, but until Friday, May 5, I will have worked for one of the largest Medicare contractors in the country. I worked as sort of an educational consultant. I had a "field office". I worked with almost total autonomy. I had the opportunity to put my "people skills" to use. I was well paid. As is the case when one works from home, I set my own hours. My state (yes, my territory was the entire state of KY) was low-key. I had plenty of spare time for mid-morning blogging.

And I'm turning my back on all of it.

That's not to slight the company for which I worked in the least. I'm not being sarcastic -- I worked for a good company. One with a solid government-contractor compliance program. You weren't going to see my company's name in the papers anytime soon -- and that's just what you want as a gubmint contractor.

Not to mention that my co-workers - my counterparts in other states - are absolutely outstanding people with whom to work. And my boss put up with all my neurotic behavior without so much as a complaint. There's no dollar value you can put on that.

Nevertheless, I'm walking away from it all.

The so-called "Medicare Modernization Act" mandated some changes -- one of which would have forced me to move from my adopted Old Kentucky Home to (most likely) central Virginia.

Look, I'm from Virginia. But I've been to Richmond.

And I don't want to go back.

Actually, it's more that I don't want to leave Kentucky. I like it here. I live on a big farm. I don't miss the city. At all.

The fact that I would have been forced to move in order to keep my job was really just the kick-in-the-pants that I needed to make a change. I've been kicking around the idea of furthering my education for some time now - be it to get my MBA, or maybe even law school.

But the pieces have all fallen into place to take me in a different direction:

Nursing school.

That's right -- I'm getting my RN.

Enter your favorite Gaylord Focker joke here:_____________________________.

First and foremost, nursing is a hot career right now. Nurses are in demand. Job security is a good thing -- the "baby boomers" will see to that. When it comes to job security, government programs aren't exactly your best bet.

Beyond that, nursing will allow me to stay more or less where I am -- away from the distractions of the "big city", and closer to family. In a sense, it's a way of putting my money where my mouth is -- if I really believe in close-knit families and avoiding the social(ist) ills of big-city living and the dependence that goes along with it, then this is "where it's at".

Besides -- how long can I go on railing against government interference in our lives .... while working for a government contractor?

Enough. Time to step up.

Financially, I can't let this opportunity go. Miss Fluffy works at the college I'll be attending, so about half of my class load will be free. We don't pay rent or a mortgate to live on the farm. It doesn't get any more favorable than that.

That doesn't mean it's easy to let my job go, though. I'm well paid. I work from home (i.e. no wardrobe budget, no nagging co-workers and no - I repeat - no commute.) That's not something that comes along every day.

I pray I'm making the right decision (rather than jewelled-crown-royally-screwing-up-my-future).

Change isn't easy. But if I really believe all the spew that comes out of my mouth (and through this keyboard), then this is the right thing to do.

As my brother the Greyhound says, "Let's do the damn thing."

Call it cliche, but:

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

The Road Not Taken


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really bout the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.