Virginia Visit

The day I flew to Virginia I had my second interview with Eloqua (technically Oracle since they bought Eloqua six months ago). I prepped myself for all types of questions and found I spoke probably 10% of the time. It was more about letting me know what I was getting in for. I felt good about things and flew out to DC. My friend Jon was great and helped arrange a place for me to stay and a few Fourth of July activities.

4th of July BBQ

Crowds gathered to watch the fireworks at the Jefferson Memorial

Jon also let me borrow his car to explore some Civil War Battlefields. That morning as I was driving, I got a call from the recruiter expecting to hear whether or not he was going to set up more interviews. He offered me the job instead! I was ecstatic!! Here I was in Virginia trying to figure out if I should move there and all these answers came pointing to a resounding yes! It was only 10am by this point and I called my sister in Utah hoping she was awake since it was a holiday. My favorite phone call was to my aunt who knew the depth of the trials and heartache I was feeling. I had such a great time at the battlefields and ended up just skimming through four because I knew I'd be back. I loved knowing I was going to be back.

Maybe a bit of overload

Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg (Union soldiers charged up this hill)

Chancellorsville

That night Jon and I explored the monuments and we basically had the place to ourselves. Apparently the day after the 4th of July is when you want to visit the monuments. No one wants to venture back downtown.

My favorite monument at night

I flew home on cloud nine. However, my life being what it was, I hit a roadblock. The recruiter called me back the next week with troubling news. Kinks were still being worked out due to the acquisition and apparently the product team had a hiring freeze and the team couldn't officially offer me the job until September. The recruiter and I talked things over with an understanding that I wanted the job and he wanted to offer it. Thus began two agonizing months of trying to wait patiently. This scenario surfaced many hidden feelings I'd kept bottled up and I felt myself losing it and experiencing past disappointments. My mom asked me if I was running and when I told her no, she responded, "I think you need to start running again. That seems to work for you." And she was right. Running has become the perfect therapy for me. So I ran my first official 5K race with my sister and niece at the end of July.

Temple to temple 5K