An Eventful Week

It was one week ago that we got the offer from NewCo and decided to go for it, which rather radically altered our plans for the next few months and year. One major change is that we now know where we're moving. Another is that Dawn won't be taking a leave of absence anymore; she resigned her position instead. Finally, I'll be making a lot less money the first few months than I would've with Ameriflight, meaning we kind of need Dawn to teach. With school starting in two short weeks, Dawn started looking for a job in Minneapolis as soon as we knew.

Fortunately, math teachers always seem to be in demand. There are a number of positions still open throughout the Twin Cities. Dawn wants more than just a job, though. This will be the third school in six years and she wants to be somewhere she can plan on staying at for years to come. For her, that means teaching middle school in a good district.

On Monday, Dawn came across a post on her alma mater's alumni jobsearch website that claimed there was an "unofficial" opening for a middle school math teacher in the Minnetonka school district, one of the better in the Twin Cities area. Dawn called the principal, who told her that there was an opening at the high school that one of his current teachers wanted to transfer to, but their transfer was contingent on finding a suitable replacement - rather unlikely at this late date. He told Dawn it was crunch time and if she was interested in teaching at the middle school she'd better put in her application the very same day, and he'd review her application and call her in the morning for a phone interview.

Dawn's phone interview on Tuesday morning went well, and the principal asked her how soon she could get to Minneapolis. "I can be on a plane in two hours," she told him. That was perfect, he said: Wednesday was the only day he could interview her without switching his schedule around. She threw some clothes in her suitcase and I drove her to the airport, where she bought a non-rev pass and took Northwest Airlines to MSP. She was there six hours after getting the invitation to interview.

Dawn interviewed yesterday morning; it went very well and she was offered the position. She's extremely excited: it's not simply a job, but her dream job. She'll be teaching 7th graders like she was in SoCal, it's a well-off school district that invests heavily in its teachers and facilities, and the math department is close knit and places a strong emphasis on colaborative teaching. And it all happened in two days, leaving us both a little dazed. I'm so proud of her I could burst.

And in keeping with the hectic pace of the first week of our new life, she starts on Monday... at a school 1700 miles away. She'll start driving on Saturday morning, so she has two days to pack her things and move out. I had a trip starting today, so this morning may be my last time seeing her in a while.

This morning we were at the bank when my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID: it said "Satan," which is my identifier for crew scheduling. I picked the phone up hoping my day had been cancelled.

No such luck. Crew scheduling wanted to know where I was. "Umm...at a bank...why?" Turns out I was supposed to be checked in for a 10:50 show. I had incorrectly written it on the calendar as a 14:40 show time. They had no airport reserves left to cover for me. The flight was scheduled to depart in 55 minutes. We raced home and I threw on part of my uniform while Dawn packed; I dressed the rest of the way in the car on the way to the airport. I got to the plane by 11:30, enough time to do my normal duties and still depart on time. No harm, no foul, I guess. Still, it's embarassing - this is the first time I've missed a show time by more than a minute or two. The Captain I'm flying with half-jokingly says I have short-timer's syndrome.

So our hurried embrace before I sprinted into the terminal was the last I'll see of Dawn for a while. I'd commute to MSP but I really need to stick around here to sell our house. I love Portland dearly, but with Dawn gone I'll be anxious to move to Minneapolis. I guess that's a good thing.