More Change

I could hardly believe when I sat down to blog tonight that it had only been one week since I had blogged last.  Lately it seems like it’s weeks if not months between posts, and here I felt like I have lived a month in the last week and I only posted last Friday.  (Go, me!)

There is more change afoot in our lives (wow, because there hasn’t been enough in the last year, right?), and while I’ve alluded to it, I was waiting for a few things to be final before I talked about it here.  Apologies to those waiting to hear the deets, but I wanted to write about it once so as not to have to send multiple emails because frankly… I’m bushed.  Daily.  Heh.  And, these two changes mainly have to do with me, though Adam, being my partner and support, and the kids are obviously affected too.

Since starting at Raytheon almost 9 months ago, I was given many opportunity to learn and do things that were above and beyond the expectations of my position, but because I’m a lover of many nerdy things such as numbers (think dollars and hours) and planning and schedules and statusing, doing these things was right up my alley.  I wasn’t responsible for making decisions, but I took on a lot of responsibility and loved every minute of it.

For reasons that I can’t and won’t go into, before Christmas I was offered the “acting” lead position on my team.  I was ecstatic… and nervous… and excited… and nervous… I truly felt like I was being offered the position that was next supposed to be where I should go in my career – thus the excitement – but I also knew that this would bring with it the other side for that which I had not been responsible – the decision making and people management.  I was very much looking forward to the opportunity, but also nervous about my skills in these areas.

I’ve been in this roll for approximately a week now – probably the longest week of work I’ve had in the last year (okay, not the longest because there were a couple of really crazy weeks there and I wasn’t pregnant or very pregnant through those) BUT ALSO the week I have most loved at work in the last couple of years.  I honestly cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this week – yes, it was crazy and hectic and yes, I have a lot to learn and yes, I felt like I was drowning, but Oh. My. Goodness.  It was awesome.

Yes, I am weird.  You knew that already.

And as mentioned above, this affects my family, but I honestly hope that after the initial craziness settles down, this position will be for the better for my family.  I feel ready for this, and while it’s only an “acting” role and I need to perform to keep it, I feel like if I work hard and learn and grow, it can really become that which I’m supposed to be doing in my career right now.  Adam has been an awesome support this week in helping me, and we both know that there will be a period of time when he needs to be THAT person in our family, THAT person in our partnership – and he’s okay with that.  And with any change like this, I believe if you develop a goal for when the crazy time period needs to end – whether it ends on its own by then or whether you put a hard stop to the crazy so it doesn’t affect your life outside of work – you can learn to manage a role like this and still have a beautiful family and home life as well.  Or I am just talking out of my butt so as to delude myself… and if so, don’t pop my bubble right now, k?

So.  That’s change #1.

So change #1 made change #2 more insane, though change #2 technically did come before change #1 – it’s just starting after change #1.

And that would be… I am taking two online classes through the Aurora Community College.  The classes should be relatively straightforward and have no group work (YAY!) and did I mention they are online?  But, it is two classes and they will be my hobbies for the next couple of months. 

So right.  I’m 23 weeks pregnant, a new (first time) lead for a team at work, and taking two classes.  Change?  CHANGE?  Right.  Crazy, crazy change.  And so far – I’m loving it!

Erin