One aspect of the move that has been very difficult has been keeping it a secret. I’m generally an open person and I like to tell good news to people I like, so to keep this a secret for over a year in some cases has been hard. For the first few months, it was only my wife and I who knew. We didn’t tell the kids, close family, or friends. We were trying on the idea of moving and didn’t want to disappoint anyone who we might leak it to. As time passed, we leaked it to a select handful of people. It was leaked for a couple reasons. Partly because these people were close to us and we were desperately wanting to share it with someone. It felt so good to finally be able to discuss it with others and see if some of our logic behind the move was valid. It was also partly because these people could help give us direction in some manor, be it jobs and the job market, schools, apartments, or other items.
But even now we are less than eight weeks away and the large majority of people we know are unaware of our plans. And that is entirely because of our jobs. While we get along quite well with our employers, our employers have invested in us and given us the chance to be in good positions. There is concern that they may feel betrayed and terminate us once they find out. So that is why we are waiting until closer to the date in case something like that happens. It is quite likely that it will not, but it is pragmatic to prepare that it might. I honestly would love to let them know now as much to share it with them as to give them more time to transition me out of my role and someone else into it. But there is only three weeks left until we break the news and that will still give them four weeks notice.
There is still the concern that they might find out before we tell them. But we’ve been very careful to limit the possibility. We’ve refrained from even hinting about it on Facebook since that’s a possible link. There were two items we couldn’t control, the family who lives here and the For Sale sign on our front lawn. Both lead to my former boss (who lives two blocks away) who knows my current boss. He may not find out and if he did, he may not talk to my boss, but again there is a possibility.
Yes, we’re still preparing for the worst outcome, but so far that has been our plan and we’ve been pleasantly surprised that things have been going quite well and close to our optimal plans. Let’s just hope that continues.
The Prodigal Chicagoan 