Goodbye, Mapleton!

Every month, as we would drive from Las Vegas to Sandy in northern Utah to visit our families, we'd get to the southern border of Utah County and think "It would be so nice to stop here."  The second movie would end.  The kids would really start getting on each others' last nerve.  We still had 45 minutes to go, but the traffic was just about to get really bad.  We'd look longingly at the pretty countryside and vast stretches of empty fields and think there was room for us.

So we looked up the only surgical group that wasn't affiliated with IHC and asked if they were hiring anytime in the next year or so.  They said no, not really, but why don't we interview you, just for fun?  One of the 12 surgeons we already have is thinking of retiring...

So we interviewed.  They said, why don't you come on for a trial period?  We'll pay you half of what you're worth for two years so you can "buy into the group."  Then at the end of the two years we'll either keep you or not.  Sound good?  Seeing how the only other group in northern Utah didn't have any openings, and we wanted to be near our families in Northern Utah, we said, yep!

A year in, we asked if we were on track to make partner.  We were reassured that they had never taken anyone on and not kept them, and that we were right on track to making partner.  So in April we started building in Mapleton, on a pretty acre lot among seven other new houses on a new street.  We met the most Christ-like neighbors on the planet, and moved in right after Christmas.  We called it-- barring the unthinkable-- our last move.  It was our 14th.  I unpacked absolutely everything for the first time in at least ten moves, and found a place for everything.

We had chosen wall placement, colors, picked out new furniture.  There were a lot of compromises made, because Ivory charges an arm and a leg for anything that isn't very basic, so there was a lot of work left to be done.  But at least we were in the right place.  We put the kids in their new schools, Declan and I watched them board the school bus from my bedroom window every morning.  We finally got cats because we didn't have to worry about landlords ever again.

The only thing left was for Zach to make partner so maybe his job would be tolerable.  Because at the moment, it wasn't.  He had no autonomy, terrible pay, and there wasn't enough elective surgery to go around.  His least favorite part of the job was trauma surgery, but somehow he ended up as Trauma Chief.  He was spending too much time on call in Provo, even time at Timpanogos, when we'd been led to believe they wanted him farther south... where we lived.

In early May,  Zach got a call from Tanner clinic, where he'd interviewed previously and found no positions open.  Now they had one open for him.  But he didn't need it because he was about to make partner here in Utah Valley.

In late May, the Utah Valley group decided they wouldn't make him partner.  Like we'd known all along, but thought would somehow change, there wasn't enough elective work for all the general surgeons, and the group was thinking about adding different specialties.  Oh- sorry we told you that you were on track to stay...  that's a bummer you built a house and moved your entire family again.

 Yeah-- bummer.

Hey, we'll let you stay until you find a new job-- you can have even until the end of the year... longer if you need.

No thanks, I was already offered a job a few weeks ago. 

So here we are two years later.  I love this house so much, I have to say I'm glad we built it.  It's better than it would have been if we hadn't made changes to the original plan. Just ask my cousin, who built the same house minus the changes, lol.  I have to say I'm glad we moved into it.  I loved our time in Mapleton, fleeting as it was, and I am glad to know the people we met here.

This job kept us in Utah long enough for a permanent one to open up, and for Zach to realize how bad and good things can be.  I hear people say they know they are in the right place at the right time, and they know they are exactly where Heavenly Father wants them.  We prayed about both the job and the house, and didn't get a resounding yes or no.  I think Heavenly Father just wants us to make it back to him in one piece, and doesn't really care where we go or what we do, as long as it doesn't compromise us eternally, lol.

Is this where you want us, God?

Hmm-- will you be together?

Well, yeah, obviously.

Then sure- wherever you want is fine.