Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Major Changes

I'm gonna interrupt the regularly scheduled (horse) programming for a brief personal announcement -- although since my personal and horse life are so intertwined and codependent that changes to one invariably affect the other. This is no exception. If you've been following along for a while, you may remember when I wrote about DH being promoted to captain, and then over the next few months I lamented how his changed work schedule was impacting my barn time as I tried to juggle things.
I'll tease you with a beach photo ;)
While we were in Hawaii, DH got a very unexpected but exciting phone call -- he was promoted to major. He had interviewed for the position before we flew to Seattle last month, but there were several other majors interested in transferring to his prison, so he just chalked it up to good practice interviewing and better luck next time. But apparently his dedication has not gone unnoticed, and he was selected.
Recycling old photos from when he was a COI --receiving a medal of valor for saving a mental health workers life when she got taken hostage by an inmate. 
I can't even begin to describe how proud I am, and what a big deal this is. To go from COI to major in less than nine years is unheard of, especially at his age. And particularly being promoted at the biggest institution in the state. He beat out experienced and well-qualified majors who wanted to transfer, so the amount of trust upper management has in DH's abilities and skill set is humbling. Of course it helps that he's been the acting major there since his previous boss transferred out 5 months ago -- a situation that caused no small amount of stress for us as he took on increased responsibilities and hours with no corresponding increase in pay. But all's well that ends well, right?
A promotional photo of him that DOC uses for advertising, haha. 
This week is his last week on his old captain's schedule (goodbye 4 am wake up calls four days a week, I will not miss you!), and he'll transition into a "normal person" work schedule. I'm not sure who is more excited for him to have weekends and holidays off, him or me. I'm already planning weekends at VHR, and he's scheming for more days on the river.
Adjusting to his new schedule won't be all sunshine and roses -- for the last nine years, he's always had a weekday off (useful for scheduling appointments and errands so he didn't have to burn PTO), and for most of that time, he's also worked four 10-hour days, leading to less commuting and more time at home for projects. He's already worried about how a 5-day work week will impact our tentative construction plans for this year, but since it's a permanent schedule change, we'll just have to go with the flow and figure things out day by day.

At any rate, there's your proud wife brag -- since he is way too humble to toot his own horn, I will do it for him! Super proud and happy for him.

Are you ready to hear about the beach ride? Cause that's what I have up next in my queue.... ;)

34 comments:

  1. aw, yay DH!!! that's awesome, and you should be proud! three cheers for a more normal schedule ahead of you! now if only that would correspond to an early spring too ;)

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    1. Thanks! I wish those things were related, early spring would be fab 😂

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  2. As someone whose husband just left corrections, I can appreciate this! Moves like this are rare, especially within institution at his age. Yay for your hubby!

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    1. Yeah sometimes it's so hard to explain to people who don't understand the system. For lots of industries, people in their early 30s being upper level isn't that strange, but it's just not common in corrections -- especially not in this state! Tragically, the prestige really doesn't come with an appropriate pay raise, but that's life in corrections here haha. Sometimes he makes noises about moving, because even in the next state over, his rank pays like 3x what he makes here. Bah.

      But thank you! 😁

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  3. Oh, congrads! Sounds like a well-earned promotion, I'd be super proud of him too!

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    1. Thank you! He never wants me to post stuff on FB because his coworkers might see it, but I feel like here is a safe enough place haha

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  4. What wonderful news <3 Congratulations DH!

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  5. Congratulations to your DH! I hope things shake out with minimal drama and stress :)

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    1. I think his institution announcing it while we were on vacation helped to minimize the inevitable drama at work, haha. But thank you! Super excited, obviously 😁

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  6. Congratulations! What an awesome achievement for him and such good news for your family.

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  7. Congrats DH!!!! We will have to start calling him DH Major or MDH or something to emphasize his new and distinguished title. ;)

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    1. Hahaha DH Major sounds like a band or constellation or something 😂 I love it. And thanks!!

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  8. Major congrats to the new major. Glad his hard work is paying off, and hopefully construction and pony time can carry on normally too. I remember your post on VHR, the MO heritage farm thing is so cool.

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    1. Thank you! And yes, I had SUCH a good time there with my friend, I can't wait to share it with my husband!

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  9. That's fantastic! So happy for you guys! And yay for a normal schedule too.
    At my old barn manager job I had Sundays and Tuesdays off. I loved having a weekday to get stuff done. Definitely something I miss working in a 9-5 m-f setting. But I'm sure you'll get it figured out!

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    1. Thank you!
      Yeah I'll really miss the convenience of scheduling the farrier to come out on his day off or making him deal with DMV for me haha. But we'll manage!

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  10. Such wonderful big news! Congrats to the hubby!!

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  11. This is so awesome!! Congratulations! You guys will figure out the new schedule and stuff. That's the easy part!

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    1. Thanks!! I'm sure we'll sort it out, hopefully it'll be easier to get used to than his captain's schedule, cause that sucked 😂

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