Direct your feet to the sunny side of the street...

For the past couple of months I've been pursuing a job with a different brokerage - I had a couple of different leads, each in the Ottawa area. The first place didn't pan out; they couldn't decide what they wanted to hire for. The second seemed really promising. I had a great interview and got good feedback from both the recruiter, and from my references. All signs were pointing to an offer coming my way - and then they hired someone else. Apparently the other candidate was someone they liked just as well, but who had more commercial lines experience. So for that I can't blame them, but I'm definitely disappointed; feel like someone took the wind out of my sails. They mentioned they'd consider hiring me for personal lines but there's no way. I am not at all looking to go back to personal lines; talk about regressing in my career!

So, I had hoped my update would be a bit more exciting; but it is what it is. At my current office, my employers of 13 years are retiring and the business has now been acquired by a brokerage based in Campbellford. My job is not in danger; if anything, this will open up a lot of new commercial markets to me, and for that I'm excited - it'll be a learning opportunity for me, as well as a chance to provide even better service to my clients.

In other news, we're living in the country now, about 25 minutes north of the city. The kids love it. My sister-in-law's dog lives with us (they live in a house that isn't suitable for the dog) and the kids love her too. B is enjoying being in the country again. This is the house he grew up in (we're living with his dad). I can't say that I *love* it. I like the city. If I was single with no kids, I'd live in the city in a heartbeat. It suits my lifestyle. But having a yard, having a lot of privacy, not having a ton of people around - it's good for the kids. I'm grateful that my father-in-law had the space available for us when we needed it. And the local grocery store has a combination LCBO/The Beer Store attached. I will say that, the two days a week I get to commute by myself, I enjoy the drive. And J likes his new school and his teacher seems good. Trying really hard to find all the positives.