8 Years Ago

This morning The Ravishing Mrs. TB texted me that Facebook had helpfully reminded here that 8 years ago today I was laid off.

Could not be, I thought.  So I went back and looked at the archives.  Yup, it was 8 years ago today.

I stand by my initial reaction:  although it was unexpected and bad news, it was not the worst news I could have received: "There's also a sense, as I told some folks at work, that I could have gone to an office where a doctor could have told me "You have pancreatic cancer and three months to live". In the scheme of things, this is not the worst thing to happen."

Certainly we never expected to have to move away from all of our family and friends - in a very real sense, our universe up to that point.  But we were pleasantly surprised by the results:  Na Clann adapted far better than we could have hoped and made friends and found interests.  We found a school that worked and then a church that did.  I worked the same job for almost 7 years; The Ravishing Mrs. TB ended up finding a job at the church at that has become our church.  We bought a house as well, something that was not at all expected so quickly after having to sell our last one under duress.

And myself?  I was thinking about this as well, and suddenly thought "What if I told my former self as of that moment that 8 years from the date of being laid off and having to ultimately move I would have:

- Learned to Make Cheese;

- Raised Quail;

- Learned to actually use a Japanese Sword and practice Japanese swordsmanship, resulting in a teaching certificate;

- Get a certification in Japanese;

- Run multiple road races;

- Run two obstacle course races;

- Compete in Highland Athletics;

- Learn more about rabbits than I ever thought (and continue to keep them); 

- Climb a 16 foot rope (still one of my personal favorites);

- Write and publish not one book, but eight (still not making any money - but done!);

- Train with weights and find out I can lift would I would have believed to be unbelievable amounts;  

- Find out that my passion for doing things like growing and making and raising are shared by thousands of people across the planet;

- Add a whole new bevy of wonderful people whom I can actually call friends;

- Finally got the promotion I was shooting for.

I suspect my former self would have simply laughed and shook his head.  After all, any one of those things seems pretty much of a stretch.  Altogether they would seem impossible.

So yes, it has been eight years.  And a very full and busy eight years at that.