What Comes Next?

Sometimes life takes us places we would've never predicted. Sometimes those places happen because of good things. But other times, the place we end up comes from something bad, scary, even life-threatening. Strap in - for those of you that know me - this story will be a bit of a shock.

In December, our little family was visiting my husband's brother and his wife in Morgantown. Because of COVID we hadn't spent any time with them in almost a year. But when my father-in-law died at the end of November, we decided we needed a family visit. We all "hunkered down" for the week leading up to the visit. We wore masks to hug. We used separate bathrooms. We ate in two separate areas of their house. It wasn't ideal but it was what all of us needed mentally after a tough time.

My brother and sister-in-law live in a completely idyllic spot in the middle of the woods. It was unseasonably warm during our visit, so we spent a lot of time outside. Somewhere in the middle of that weekend we asked ourselves "Why don't we live closer to them? What is our reason for not living near family?". I may have even said "I picked out the spot where we could build a house." We did a lot of soul searching for the next month, talked about what we would do for employment, insurance, etc. and then decided to take a leap of faith. We are in the process of getting our ducks in a row to build a house in that same idyllic spot and can't wait to be neighbors with our family!

So employment. I have been semi-casually looking at a career change for around 2 years. It's not easy to think beyond education when it's all you've ever known, but I knew I wanted to do something in advocacy and outreach. This seemed like the time to explore more options. Since we were moving to Morgantown, I thought WVU might be a good place to start my search. I am blessed to have some great friends and colleagues who were willing to take my resume apart and put it back together. They also talked me through the various jobs within the university and helped me narrow down where I would be a good fit. There are SO MANY different kinds of jobs within a university. I applied for a few but none of them felt quite right - and truly a lot of the initial applying was me learning the "system". Still - nothing. Until the WVU Cancer Institute posted a Program Coordinator position.

I have spent the last almost 6 years in a presidential role of some capacity for the West Virginia Music Educators Association. From planning the state conference, to organizing advocacy events, to meeting with elected officials I have gained a lot of experience (and made a lot of mistakes) on how a non-profit functions. It just so happens that the Cancer Institute job was for the program coordinator for Mountains of Hope - the WV Cancer Coalition's non-profit. The job description was everything I had done through either WVMEA or by being the county music coordinator, but I had no healthcare experience. After reading the job description about 100 times and thinking "I would LOVE this job", I decided to reach out to a longtime colleague that now works for WVU Medicine. I figured she would tell me I was crazy to attempt this position without experience in health care. Instead she asked me to send her my resume, and then told me to apply. Two interviews and a background check later (and multiple wardrobe consults with one of those same WVU friends, and then my sister-in-law), I was offered the job! I honestly am still in shock. So what comes next?

I will start this new position mid-March. Luckily, it is remote for now so I don't have to move away from the hubs and the kids and hopefully we can all make the move together sometime in June. Eventually, it will be a hybrid work situation which is ideal for me. I wish I could've finished the school year, but it wasn't an option. I will miss teaching music, but this opportunity is beyond anything I ever knew I could do professionally. I can't wait to get started. As for the hubs, we are hoping he lands in one of the school systems in the general vicinity of where we will be living. He's a great teacher and an even better person, so I have no doubt he will have multiple options.

Literally every decision in my adult life has led to this job. From who my college accompanist was to taking various leadership roles to writing policy and curriculum, and now to being a cancer survivor (not really a decision...) all of these pieces have led to this opportunity. The most humbling part of these past 8 months has been the number of people in my corner, and this experience was the same. Everyone should have a village like mine. And we definitely wouldn't have this opportunity without Jamie's brother and his wife. We will forever be grateful to them for helping us make this happen.

For those of you interested in seeing what comes next, check out the Mountains of Hope website - https://moh.wv.gov/Pages/default.aspx. One of my goals is to increase membership in this coalition - membership is FREE! So if you're interested in cancer prevention and outreach and are a West Virginia resident, take a look.

Thanks for following my cancer journey. Lots of twists and turns - and I am sure more to come. Love to you all!