SO IS LIFE...BUT WE ARE BLESSED

Life, in general, can be beautiful and it can be ugly. You can feel higher than the moon and back, or lower than a champagne flute on the Titanic. I have experienced these moments over time, especially in my adult life; but right now, at this current time I could tell you the scotch they were drinking on the Titanic.


It all started April 2024, the end of April. I had just started a new position as an IT Systems Administrator at a small business. I had never worked for a smaller company, and I was more than ready. The salary was almost two times higher than I was making in my previous position. I was thanking God. I was blessed, still highly favored. It meant even more because at that time I was yearning for a higher salary. I was studying using online courses, YouTube videos for various certifications. AWS, Azure, Security+, we will get back to that later. But I was focused on getting my money up and I succeeded. Now you would think everything was silver and gold like the song says. I felt like I was on top, but I really was asking for Jesus to make a way. It was midday, 3 days before I started my new position when my wife called and said that she had been in a car accident. I was worried but calm mainly because she was so calm even though I know she was shaken up. When it was established, she was ok with a sudden swell of calm and agitation. Calm because I was about to start a new job with a great salary and opportunity but agitation because well, I was about to start a new job in 3 days and now we would need to handle another one of life wrenches. But hey, so is life. We are blessed. Once we established no fault of our own, we began to understand where we went wrong. We were initially informed that the car could be fixed but encountered the dreaded insurance companies who will turn a fender bender into a total loss, on top of that, no gap insurance; that was where we went wrong. But hey, so is life. We are blessed.


There I was, the first day, ready to start my new position. To be transparent and keep them in the loop I informed the CFO who I reported to about my car situation and the coordination of only having a Corolla and a family of six at the time. I am not sure if he thought I had money in the bank or what, but it felt like he assumed that this would be handled in like a week. Right off the bat I knew this situation would cause an issue. We were issued a rental but only for so long, a couple of weeks and we had been actively working on our credit and my wife was actively looking for a job. We felt good about our situation before the car accident, it was like we were turning a corner after 4 kids in 5 years and a new business started and existed, new degrees, pandemic. We felt like we were starting a foundation with the first few stones being me graduating, entering the tech realm, and earning this position and salary. But hey, so is life. We are blessed. After 3 months of being on a contract I earned a full-time position. The CFO told me that I was thorough with my work, and they appreciated improving my communication. I appreciated the positive feedback and the areas of improvement.


Over the summer it was difficult for me, and I am sure concerning to my employer.  I was humble and contrite because I understand and respect the employer/employee relationship; But one thing that never wavered was my work ethic and my want to, my drive and my outlook on my future BUT, so if life. We are blessed. There was one contentious situation in which I did go against the policy of no work from home and let the CFO say that I would like to work from home due to car issues. I ended up going into office and we spoke, man to man, ended on a good note, a since of understanding, But so if life. We are blessed. Over the 7 months I was there, I was learning. Even in an environment with little direction, but great individuals; a lack of procedure, but idea-fostering conditions, I was all in. We were in the middle of an ERP implementation, and I was starting to catch my groove. I felt more assertive. I was starting to understand the business and my role. After the conversation about working from home, I was issued an apology because there were people working from home. I was told that IT can request work from home as needed. I appreciated the information, but I had already known for a while that certain individuals were working from home even though the universal policy was no work from home. Eh, it is what it is.


November 5th, 2024, was a day, looking back, feels like a turning point. Today April 7, 2025, in my mind, looked a lot different before the events of November 5, 2024. No, I am not talking about the election. Early that morning my son was running a 104 fever. It had been spiking since Sunday. My wife had just started a new position, and we were unsure about her taking off, being late, working from home. I checked my schedule and made sure that there were no meetings at work or anything important that needed me in person. I was going to exercise my right to request to work from home. I figured it was my first time using it since I was informed of this privilege weeks ago. I requested and was denied in which we had words over the phone. Now in the past it was my understanding that we are two men and if we had a contentious moment, cooler heads would prevail. I was wrong. I was threatened with termination over the phone over "the way I talked to him." After I asked about meeting that was not scheduled, I was met with a condescending tone of "so what." I was upset but hey the request was denied, thankfully my wife was able to stay home with my son who ended up having the flu which was progressing into pneumonia. I said that I would be coming in and we should sit down and talk. On the way to work I had to have a conversation with myself, and God and I said, you know what, we do not even need to talk because I was already threatened with termination so just continue to do your job. Once I settled in, I was called into the office to talk, I said Hey, everything is ok. I am good, we can talk another time. That did not work, the conversation got heated and I was asked to clean out my desk. I did not argue, I packed my things and that was that. I guess, so is life, but we are blessed.


I was upset, confused, but I said God that is not where I was supposed to be. There were many complaints about how the organization was run and the fact that I was not privy too until the work from home situation. I immediately began to apply for jobs and at the same time take some free time and reset. Ironically, my old job reached out to me. I had a meeting with them regarding coming back to work. A Private meeting which provided closure for me. Nothing happened and I was not hired again. I did, however, receive an apology for how it all went down. I studied new skills, earned my Security+, BUT it has gotten to the point that being unemployed......sucks. From Nov 5th till now I have switched up my strategy of job-hunting multiple times. Customized hundreds of resumes, multiple interviews, even some final interviews only to have my fate be left up to someone else. Faith, prayer, and family have been the most important factors of joy. Learning new skills during this time is crucial. Even being open to pivoting your focus, like what I am doing now. I started this Fatherhood blog because I had to make my own way. I was denied unemployment, and I am still waiting for my appeal. The job market is not where it should be, but I must make a living and use resources to make my own opportunity. It is tough; I am out of my comfort zone; I am still unemployed; but I'm here, my family is well taken care of, they are healthy, and of a sound mind; I sometimes stumble in my faith but that’s ok, just makes me stronger; it's all a challenge, but so is life. We are blessed.