At the end of May 2019, Eric was approached by MUSC (in Charleston, SC) about coming back to work for them. They had interviewed 5 people already for the job and could not find the right person. They started brainstorming to possibly recruit someone they already knew for the position. Eric's name came up almost unanimously. They said he was the perfect fit for the job. They really wanted him to come back.
He did a fellowship there 3 years ago and loved it. We were on our way home from Tacoma after going to a fun Carrie Underwood concert when he received the text about the job. He asked me, "Would you ever consider going back to Charleston?" We had spent the trip TO Tacoma reminiscing about our favorite things from Charleston and I said, "yes" (thinking he meant retiring there or something). Then he showed me the text. I immediately said, "No! No, Not now". But, on further thought, he had always wanted to do the academic side of radiology and teaching and this was a perfect fit for both. I told him to go ahead and look into it and learn more about the position. After all, he wasn't happy with his job and what could it hurt to learn more. I felt I couldn't be so dismissive when his current job was so frustrating for him and we knew that we did like Charleston area already. But, I had no intention of moving.
Well, he did learn more and everything he learned was good. Better pay, better work environment, better hours, opportunity to teach, just everything. They wanted him to come out and interview. He did. He loved it and they officially offered him the job. This was the most difficult time. I was so torn. Leaving the house and the land and making the kids start over again was just tearing me apart, but seeing Eric happy again in his work (where the majority of his time was spent), was very important to me. The complex decision process would take several more paragraphs to tell about, but it sufficeth to say that after much contemplating, weighing options, praying, and spiritual confirmations, we ultimately decided that he would accept the job and we would back move to South Carolina.
It was SUCH a hard decision. We both really loved our house and land and our lifestyle there, but we kept having the feeling that it wasn't about our material things and possessions, it was about Eric's health, our family's happiness and our ability to serve others. I knew the kids and I could be happy in SC because we had been before. I knew it was a beautiful place with lots to offer. I knew there was a good ward with good schools and good neighborhoods. We still had lots of friends there so we weren't even really starting over. And we knew we wanted to serve and help others more. Not being tied down to a big house payment and long work hours could really enable us to help and serve others more. So, he turned in his resignation on June 20.
Eric had to give 6 months notice to his current job, per his contract. While a long time, it was good in many ways. We had time to really accept the idea of leaving our dream house and land and letting it sink in without rushing into things. We had time for closure. It gave us time to sell the house. It gave the boys time to have closure with their friends. It worked out really perfectly in many ways. Eric's work had refused to give him any time off at Christmas because "it wasn't his turn". Turns out, it hadn't been his turn yet for any Christmas break since he had started the job and we were a little frustrated about that. But they DID give him the week before the two weeks of Christmas break (which was not helpful at all since our kids were all still in school and our college kids still in college). However, his 6 months notice ending date landed exactly on December 20, but since he already had the previous week off, his last day was December 13 and he didn't start his new job until January 6! So guess who got all of Christmas break off anyway?! :) Eric did and an extra bonus week!! Take that Vancouver Radiologists! It was great!
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