WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR SEPTEMBER 2019

During that conversation we talked about the fact that applying for the job, and going to the interviews, as well as withdrawing the application, was part of the overall adjustment I'm making to a permanent life here. As those who know me are aware, I've moved all my adult life, first as a member of the Air Force, then married to an Air Force enlisted man, then after I left him, marrying a man with a taste for adventure and change. We bought this house as our permanent home in July 2018, I got the job I have now in December 2018, and I'm still trying to figure out how to be a person who lives in the same place for the rest of her life. And now, apparently someone who works for the same company for a significant period of time.

Bluntly, the longest job I've EVER had was the Air Force for four years, and they shoot you if you leave. OK, that's an exaggeration, but they will put you in jail if you leave without telling anyone. Since I left the Air Force at 23, when I chose, or when I moved, I've simply changed jobs. Considering I've moved from one house, city, state, or country to another more than 30 times as adult, there have been a lot of moves, and a lot of jobs. I've moved three times just since I got to know the ladies in this group the last four years! And in that time, have had four jobs-business proposal manager, managing editor, development manager, and now grant writer.

That's not bragging - that's explaining that, in a life that has known little but change, making a decision NOT to change jobs was kinda huge for me. I had to accept that some things aren't going to change about how decisions are made, and that I can either suck that up or move on. I chose to stay. Which has other ripples... but mainly that, in staying, I need to shut off the job board announcements that flood my inbox. I need to no longer be open to the next thing, and instead, just bloom where I've planted myself. Not a hardship, I might add. While the pay isn't super amazing, many non-profits like this one make it up in benefits:

• Off on Fridays after 1:30 p.m.
• 20 days vacation a year, not accrued, you're simply entitled to them starting October 1 of each year.
• 8 to 10 paid days off during the weeks of Christmas and New Year each year--the entire office shuts down.
• Work at home 90 percent of the time - I go into the office once a month for all-staff and then whenever I have grants to print, or materials to print out for a grant meeting.

That's just off the top of my head. They also let me extend far beyond what's reasonable in terms of grants I write, to dream of and try to capture the big grants that have lesser chances, but would be transformational. Not all organizations would - but I'm allowed a lot of leeway, because I get all the bread-and-butter grants done, and they know it.

I don't know how things are going to work out with the new supervisor (I move over under her management on October 1) but I plan on killing her with kindness, largely. Bless her, she's micromanaged her current person unmercifully, but I'm hoping it's a matter of perception--and distance. She's literally an hour away, I won't see her often, and as long as I keep her informed on what I'm doing, I think she'll cool her jets with me. I hope she will, anyway. As someone at work that I love dearly told me, I'm secure enough to simply say, "no, you're wrong about that," when I know I'm in the right--as well as secure enough to say, "yes, you're right, thank you for the advice," when that's actually the situation.

Off to go turn off the electronic job boards. I can't even imagine not knowing what the job situation is like out there. And, if it's anything like romance, the minute I'm no longer open, they'll come a-calling.