So I can officially announce this now that I’ve gotten an offer letter.

I will be moving to Denver, Colorado.  I got a Systems Engineer job with Charter.

There’s lots of mixed emotions about all of this.  Oregon has been my adopted home now for well over a decade, and I’ve made lots of friends here.. in Portland, in Bend, and even down here in Eugene.  A lot of people have helped me along the way get to the point where taking a job like this was even possible.

Over a year ago I struggled to even perform basic functions of life.  I was very sick, so sick that I didn’t realize at the time how close I was to having a life-ending heart attack.  As it is I had an “inferior myocardial infarction”, which is about as close as you want to get to a chest-grabbing-fall-to-the-ground-call-911-as-seen-on-Emergency! heart attack.  I’ve struggled through the last year with a lot of help from friends, and even some begrudging help from enemies.

Denver wouldn’t have been my first choice.  Staying here in the Cascadian Republic with my trees, rivers, rain, and gas station attendants would have been my ideal choice.  But believe me, the offer to move to Denver is substantial: enough money for me to be financially independent again, and maybe even pay back some of the debts I owe in time.  And while not my beloved Portland (or even my “Portland substitute” in Eugene) there are trees, and mountains, and rivers.  There isn’t nearly as much rain, and no friendly (?) gas station attendants..

There are new friends and old ones waiting for me in Denver.  There are opportunities, boundless ones at first glance.  For the first time in years I’m excited for my future.  A bit scared, a but overwhelmed about the logistics of moving four cats, two RVs, and a storage unit of crapola across the Rockies.

But the darkness is giving way to light.  I see what I’m capable of, and I’m reaching for it.  This is a big step, but one that I think will pay rewards long term.