Life Changes

Wow, what a surprise for me.  I was laid off from my job as Vice President and Commercial Escrow Officer for American Title Company on June 14th.  I have worked for American Title for 17 years, in fact, I was there when the doors to the company opened for business.  I think I can safely blame this lay off on the economy and big business.  It took me about a week to get over the shock of losing a job that I had held for so long.  It just seemed like that company was part of my life.  More so the people that I have worked with on a daily basis for so long. I definitely went through a range of emotions.

There has been at least one positive effect of this job loss:  I can finally talk (and blog) about our future plans without feeling like I am jeopardizing my job. I always felt like it was better to keep our plans on the down low, or else, I might lose my job. (haha - now that just strikes me as funny).  Anyway, no need to worry about that now!

In case I haven't mentioned it before - Troy and I will be leaving on our sailboat to cruise to Mexico and South America and wherever the winds blow us.  Our plan is to leave at the end of this year.  I have come around to thinking that this lay off was a blessing in disguise.  I just wish they would have waited another few months.  Anyway, I hope to start updating the blog more (I know, I know, you've heard that one before) with our cruising preparation.  We are really getting excited as we realize that we are closer than ever to our goal.  December will be here before we know it and we need to be ready - and have Storyville ready.

I was looking forward to having some time to work on my photography and start getting our storage unit pared down to a manageable size, but that was not meant to be.  I was without work for just a few short weeks when I got an offer to work for an abstracting company doing title research, some of which can be done from my boat.  It is contract type of work, getting paid per tract sort of thing.  The owner knows about our crusing plans and this job is really just to help him get through a major project that he has due at the end of August.  It just seemed too perfect to pass up, so here I am, employed again!

One more piece of really great news.  Troy had another PET Scan in last June.  He remains NED (No Evidence of Disease) and his doctor was really positive about his situation.  In fact, in place of my usual quote, I will leave this blog post with a quote from Troy's oncologist:

"I see nothing that would preclude you from dying of old age." ~ Dr. Robert Amato