The great nothing hope

A while back I spoke of something big I was very hopeful about. I didn't really want to talk about specifically for this reason -- it never materialized.

I had a shot at a very good job opportunity. It was an overseas position in Japan and would have been a decent promotion. Additionally, in government service, when you accept an overseas position, your current position is guaranteed to be held for you. This is called return rights. You typically cannot work in an overseas slot for more than 5 or 6 years so that return rights thing is pretty important. There is also a thing in federal government service that once you get paid at a certain level, you cannot get paid at a lower rate. So if you get promoted and then go back to a lower position, they have to raise your pay to match or better what you were making.

The upshot of this is that I could have spent 3 to 5 years in Japan, had a guaranteed return, and not lose any money in the deal. You can understand how excited I was at the opportunity.

So, it's a bit disappointing that I didn't get the job. However, as you can tell by the post below, it's not like I'm sweating it. We have decided to settle down. And that's probably for the best.

This ties into things I've been realizing more and more lately. There are things that are meant to be, and there are things that are not meant to be. You can take this how you want to. I am perhaps feeling more spiritual than I have in years -- and that's how I take this -- but it's just as easy to say that you can only expect the benefits you are prepared to accept.