I was super unhappy in a toxic environment and needed to get out.
Because I didn’t have a job, I was able to travel to help my parents when they asked.
When it turned out my dad’s cancer was back, I was able to spend as much time as needed with them.
If I had still been in my job, I would have filed for FMLA, meaning they couldn’t have terminated me. I’d be stuck on payroll but with unpaid time off. Two months of non-paid leave vs. 9 months of unemployment, some of it with a pandemic-bonus.
Because so little was hiring, I was able to take time to really explore where I wanted to go and decide what was really important.
Bonus time off gave me time to get household projects done, start exercising, take professional development classes, travel to my nephew’s graduation, and so much more.
It also allowed me to go on a week long mission trip to Haiti, physically being part of an organization I’ve supported for years. (Love For L’Allemand)
In the end I landed the perfect job that fits every one of the things on my list!
1989 – German citizens begin demolishing Berlin Wall
1989 – College student (it’s me) raced to Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines, Iowa to stand in the electronics section at a mall store so that I could watch the fall of the Berlin Wall
2012 – Barack Obama elected as 44th President of the United States
1483 – Birth of Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation
2010 – Disney composer Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Pocahontas) receives 2442nd star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame
1241 – Pope Celestine IV passes away
1969 – Sesame Street premieres
1908 – First Gideon Bible placed in hotel room
1889 – Birth of Claude Rains, famous for playing Chief of Police in Casablanca
1940 – Walt Disney’s first day as FBI informer
1801 – Dueling is outlawed by the state of Kentucky
1871 – Birth of Winston Churchill, but not the Winston Churchill you’re thinking of
1964 – Birth of Kenny Rogers, but not the Kenny Rogers you’re thinking of
1969 – Birth of Ellen Pompeo, yes the one you’re thinking of
1958 – The Hope Diamond is donated to New York’s Smithsonian Institution
1990 – Home Alone movie premieres at the box office
1766 – Charter signed for Queen’s College / Rutger’s University
1998 – Premiere of Star Trek: Insurrection
2014 – London Premiere of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
1963 – Actress Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond) marries novelist William Goyen who is 15 years her senior
2007 – Author Norman Mailer dies
1954 – Unveiling of the Marine Corps War Memorial depicting the raising of the flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima
