Big, fat, major decisions.

Thak was hired by a civilian contracting firm a couple weeks ago. The job they took him on for is one that deploys, although if he gets the assignment they're trying to put him into, it would be years before he would deploy. The days leading up to him getting the call that he was hired, we both had vivid dreams that we were back in Georgia. There are a lot more signs pointing to that assignment as well. I'll tell more about that in a minute.

A week after he was hired by the contracting firm, a series of events at his current job lead to him being offered a position as lead technician in another part of the dealership. It would not pay as much as the civilian contractor job, but it would pay enough for us to live on. Not to mention, becoming a lead tech in only six months is an unheard of rate of advancement, so when this offer came in, we were sort of floored as to what to do. We talked with a few relatives, mostly to get outside perspective, and to make sure we had considered every angle on our pro/con list that we had made already. All the people we talked with raised great points we had not thought of, so it's good that we got them in on it.

The strange part is that the same day Thak got the offer of the lead tech job, the kids and I all were seeing very clear signs that we were going back to Georgia. We had to go out, and the whole time we were out, the radio played nothing but songs by people from GA. We saw like 10 cars with GA plates, Liberty County no less! Orren even asked out of the blue, "Mommy, we have a big tree when we move Georgia?" (We hadn't discussed the possibility of moving there with him, so that was a big one. The boy who was born in Georgia, and whose name means pine tree, asks for a big tree in Georgia.) So when Thak got home from work an hour late that day, I was about to tell him all about our great day of signs showing that we were going back to GA. He walks through the door with a very serious look on his face and says, "Babe, there's something we have to talk about." My mind raced with 1000 possibilities, because those words are almost never good. Then he told me what had happened at work, leading to the lead tech in the other part of the shop being fired, and how his boss had offered him the job. Basically, it was a very freak accident that Corporate looked at as negligence. It's the type of thing you NEVER hear of happening. (No, nobody was hurt, thank goodness, but two cars were damaged.) The timing was almost too coincidental for it not to also be taken as a sign.

Both jobs have significant positives and significant negatives. The civilian contractor position would send us somewhere we want to live, it pays significantly more, and the hours are more what we are used to. It deploys, though. The lead tech job does not deploy, and puts Thak on a good track to become a foreman or a manager in a few years. However, we would be just scraping by financially, and it would be hard to dig out of the hole we've gotten into after six months of crappy pay. A positive and a negative of the lead tech position would be staying in El Paso. We have a lot of friends here, and are starting to make a lot of civilian and ex-military friends in the local area, and have begun to find connections for organic produce and stuff like that, but we actually kind of hate it here. Living in the desert wears on you when you are from somewhere green and pretty, and it's not good for Thak since it looks just like Iraq.

We considered everything very thoroughly, and frankly, we were pretty stumped on what to do, but by yesterday afternoon, we had stalled as long as we were able to stall, and we had to make a decision. It was hard to do, and we were hesitant because there is so much pulling us in both directions. Ultimately, though, we went with the option that brought us the most peace of mind, and if things go the way they appear to be going, and our luck holds out, we will arrive in Georgia when the flowers in the swamp are just starting to bloom.

The signs are too much. Sure, it could all be coincidence, but if it is, then that's a lot of coincidence to stack up in one place. Look at this:

Thak's official hire date is the same as his buddy Brady's hire date, just Brady's is 3 years earlier. Also, that hire date is 11-7, which adds up to 18, which is twice 9, which has consistently proven to be a highly lucky number for us. (All things that have worked out well for us have been full of 9's, and this is full of 9's.)

The brigade that has an opening in GA just got a new Colonel. I found this out from the brigade's website. I saw a picture of the Colonel and his wife during the change of command ceremony. They're an Asian guy white girl couple, just like me and Thak. It's not exactly a common pairing, so that was a neat coincidence as well.

Yesterday, when a decision had to be made about the lead tech job, we got a lot of official information from the contracting firm, information we had been waiting on before making a final decision. The fact that it came in just an hour before Thak had to give his manager an answer made us feel like we were drawn in that direction.

Brady called Thak, and told him that corporate had called him (to discuss Thak). He and his wife congratulated us and welcomed us aboard, but we also found out that Thak's training is 4 months, not 3. That's interesting because now, providing we do go back to GA, we will arrive three years TO THE DAY after we left. Not only is the date interesting (3-18, square root of nine and twice nine), but the fact that it has been three years is also interesting (3 being the square root of 9).

Our decision process may sound funny, but honestly, it was this, or flip a coin. We had two very good options set before us, both of which came with significant costs. Both will be equally good for our family, but in different ways. We had to decide any way we could, and ultimately, we went with our gut feeling, and chose the civilian contractor job. With luck, we will find out soon that we ARE going to GA, and can start looking for a little piece of swamp land and a Low Country house to call our own.