Yesterday I made three grown men cry

There is a tiny speck in this photo that was actually a coyote walking across the frozen lake

Yesterday I finally got the call I have been waiting for.  I have a new job.  I start in 2 weeks.  I gave notice at my workplace - after working there for over 17 years.  And then I walked around and started telling people that I am leaving.  Most people looked at me dumbfounded until they realized what I meant.  A couple of people said they thought I would "always" be there, they can't imagine the place without me.  I assured them that it will go right on without me.  Several people spontaneously welled up with tears, including three men, and that made me feel good.  You really can't fake that.  

I feel very happy about this.  It was hard to make up my mind.  I am leaving a place where I am extremely comfortable.  I am leaving a beautiful office that I have loved - and going to a cubicle!  I am leaving a place that is an easy 10 minute drive - and going somewhere where I will have to pay ~$150 a month to park or ride the bus.  

But I have been hand-picked to be part of a new department.  I am the first person to be hired in the department and will get to be part of the hiring process for the others.  I will get to design our product!  I will be working outside of a hospital environment for the first time in 20 years - and I can't wait.  I will be in an office building downtown.  I will be just a couple of blocks away from the Cathedral - so I can go to mass on my way to and from work - and at lunch if I want.  

It is a new opportunity and I am grateful and excited.  I took my daughter out for dinner last night to celebrate.  She is very excited for me - she has worked in that building and is sure I will love it (even though I will be in a cubicle).  

I am sure over the next two weeks, I will have time to reflect on my time at the hospital.  It has been very good.  I started there when I was just 10 years sober - only 42 years old!  My kids were 17 and 15 at that time.  It seems like a lifetime ago.  I really need to move on.  Start the last chapter in my career. With hope in my heart.  

And I have a bit of that "touched by God" feeling.  I had prayed for something (anything!) to happen, and it did.  It was not my doing, I never applied for the job - I was chosen.  It is a wonderful thing.  

"First of all, we had to quit playing God.  It didn't work.  Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director.  He is the Principal; we are His agents.  He is the Father, and we are His children.  Most good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom.

When we sincerely took such a position, all sorts of remarkable things followed.  We had a new Employer.  Being all powerful, He provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well. "  -- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 62 - 63