Colorado Melons

I had been a Planner/Scheduler in Healthcare Facilities Maintenance on the East Coast for 10+ years when we visited Colorado Springs for a week’s vacation in 2002. When we got back, I immediately turned in my 2 weeks notice to my employer, put our home on the market, packed what-would-fit into a 24′ Penske truck (what didn’t fit didn’t come) and we drove out with our boys (then 1 & 2 yrs) and Elvis the Golden Retriever. That fast, we were gone.

Having put a deposit on a piece of property East of The Springs and leasing a home behind Dougherty H.S. in town while our new home was being built, I immediately went to work in car sales – because I could start working in that field now to make those two payments along with the mortgage on the home in NJ, all the utilities and keep food on the table… Talk about motivation! The position in vehicle sales led to a position running the Service Department. Things then changed as they sometimes do and Leigh & I decided I should leave that establishment. 

There’s always work if you’re able & willing and for a time I did whatever I legally & morally needed to do to keep everything afloat but stayed steadily involved in various networking opportunities – every Monday Business Owner’s breakfast run by Carl Henson, every other Wednesday Front Range Business Group Lunch at Guiseppies Old Depot Restaurant, run by Jon Cobb of Salem Communications,  IFMA Meetings, and eventually being selected as an Ambassador for the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce. People don’t do great things by themselves. 

I eventually became Site Manager for Hewlett-Packard’s 1.5 million sq. ft. facility on Rockrimmon which led to a similar but larger position with Amgen at their Thousand Oaks Corporate Headquarters in sunny, Southern California. We packed everything and again our family moved, this time renting-out our home. -  Bad move. Good experience.
(My father always told me, “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you wanted.”)

By Sept 2006, we realized that the California climate was not cooperating with Leigh’s MS & fortuitously for us, the renters wanted out of the lease so we were on our way back to Colorado.

I took a job as a Heavy Equipment Mechanic with URS, a civilian contractor at a local Army base, figuring I could turn it into something. Eventually a position opened up at an electrical power plant and although underutilized in my current position, I’m being of service, learning a lot, and able to pursue outside interests. Even my young boys will encourage each other during a video game or outside football pass with,
“Wait for it. Waaaiiiit for it. [long pause...] Now!”

It will be interesting to see where this road goes and we are continually thankful that our family has been abundantly cared for along the way. “Good Luck” being where Preparation meets Opportunity, maybe this time we’ll stay for a while. ;)

Embracing Uncertainty

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