Looking for Life, Love, and Laughter...and a Job #23

I DID IT! I'VE BEEN HIRED!!!

Oh my goodness, y'all, what a feeling. So the angst of waiting last week finally paid off --- they contacted me on Tuesday of this past week. The position I was offered was my first choice, so I accepted the next day and was signing paperwork on Wednesday! It's for real...I have a job!!

I am so unbelievably excited! The position will definitely come with a lot of challenges, but it's what I want to do and I know I can make a valuable impact on students and our campus community. I'm totally scared to death too, but I'm trusting the process.

Finding out was not exactly what I thought it would be. Getting my offer came with a rush of mixed emotions -- excitement, anxiety, disbelief, and genuine thankfulness, to name a few. Excitement because...well, that one is probably pretty obvious. Anxiety because there will definitely be some challenges coming my way. And I have to move!! Disbelief...is it really over? Can I seriously deactivate my job emails and stop stalking my application spreadsheet? And thankfulness -- thankful to the institution that is willing to take a chance on me, thankful to the supporters who have been there throughout this entire process, thankful to have the opportunity to do something that I love....so many things to be thankful for.

Getting to share the news with everyone was pretty fantastic -- I think my mom made noises only dolphins could hear and cried a little even though she was at work when I told her. The students I will be working with seem really excited to have me on board, so that's really wonderful. And with things falling into place for most of my cohort, everyone is genuinely excited for one another at this point.

Since I got my offer, things have been moving pretty quickly. I've been looking for a place to live and collecting boxes for moving -- I start June 17th and hope to get moved before then. I decided not to continue working over the summer, and I cleaned out my desk :( Right now I'm trying to get packed up for a couple of weeks -- heading down to Florida for a friend's wedding, and then home for a little while before I move. So much going on!

So, I'll leave off here for now, but I'll come back in a couple weeks to share some of my overall insights/thoughts about the process, and maybe reflect on my first couple of days as a NEW PROFESSIONAL. But hiatus for now as I soak up the sun and friends and family and everything I am so lucky to have in my life...with a huge weight lifted!

Still looking for life, love, and laughter...but got the job!