My penultimate day of work with my company is today! The location I work at now is being closed because of national consolidation. Everyone was offered relocation to other corporate campus locations, especially to our same department which will now be consolidated in Ohio and the Carolinas. A few of my colleagues have already relocated and some more are going to close out this week then relocate East.
When I got the news of the closure/relocation last March, I was immediately fearful. I had thought this job was extremely secure because financial services are necessary for the functioning of the company. I was right about that, but management decided it was more efficient to run larger operations in fewer locations- centralizing and simplifying procedures. Initially, I was hoping to find a job as soon as possible, because my experience of being unemployed after college was not very much fun. I came to realize that my savings plus the severance package would make me financially insulated from the need to find work immediately. I also learned that I would have access to an additional safety cushion of unemployment benefits.
I have wanted to hike the Pacific Crest Trail ever since I walked a piece of it when I was working at a boyscout camp in the Oregon Cascades. I worked as an Outbound guide so I led groups of scouts and adults on dayhikes and backpacking trips out of Camp Melakwa. One of these was summiting the Middle Sister. We would set up base camp near the arrowhead shaped lake at 44.171224, -121.812716 , and leave base camp about 4 am to reach the ridge separating the East and West side of the Cascades. Because the ridge runs north-south, we would be hiking in darkness until cresting the ridge and seeing the sun rise over the Eastern half of the state.
I hope to experience that sense of wonder, rapture, discovery in my trek.
