Old friends, new jobs, and moving on.

I'm looking for a new job. I like what I do, but it's time to move on to another challenge. I haven't been happy for the past few years and I've tried to make it better, but I'm up against a brick wall, so to speak, and it's time to go. So I was thinking about how jobs are like relationships, that sometimes we get into one too hastily or that it's not perfect or that things change and we need to move on. I like to think that there's something better waiting for me and that I'm just being pushed by whatever runs this world to find it.

So I went out with a woman friend last night to have dinner and catch up on each other's life. Nice to have a good friend who listens and lets me vent and then encourages me. And shares her ups and downs with me, like she trusts me with those places in her life and heart. Kinda priceless to have someone like that in our lives.

She's doing some internet dating and told me about a guy she met last night and how he was really nice and sweet but she's not attracted to him. Now that's a tough one, to find someone we like but not find him appealing. One might think that's shallow, but it's just part of the human condition, that we want to be with someone who excites us and makes us feel more alive. In my past, that often got me into trouble, being so attracted to a guy that I ignored the red flags. She had copied his profile for me to read and, most amazingly, I know him from when I was growing up. His parents were friends of my parents and I remember him well and fondly. Sad to hear that he was divorced after thirty years of marriage and now he's retired after being a workaholic and has few friends and not much to do.

It's really quite similar to me and my job, that I never thought I'd be moving on after decades in one position. I really thought I'd have this job until I couldn't work any more, just like this guy thought he'd end his life happily married to his wife of as many years. He says that he never had an inkling his wife was unhappy until she left him, and I imagine my boss doesn't think I'd ever leave him either. But sometimes, and maybe often, change is for the best, allowing us to learn and grow and move on to something better. So I'm a great worker, can manage any office efficiently, and am ready for the challenge. Any offers?