Good Morning!

It is currently 8:30am and my flight for Sweden leaves in seven hours. I am beyond nervous, beyond excited, but also somewhat worried.

You see, my place of employment agreed to give me the time off for this trip, had me work extra days to bank time to make up for some of it as well as had me train someone as my temp while I was gone. Then last Friday happened. The HR lady called me and asked me to come to her office. “I knew it” I thought. I had my suspicions about the honesty and integrity that my boss decided to show in regards to the time off request as he barely showed much integrity at all in the past and very rarely kept his word. You see, two weeks previous I decided to ask him if my job was secure, if I had nothing to worry about. He looked at me straight faced and told me that everything was fine and that I didn’t need to worry. The one time I took his word about a serious matter, the one time I did not have my guard up when speaking with him, was the time that it came back to bite me.

I was let go due to “restructuring” of the company. I couldn’t believe the audacity of this man. He and I never got along, but I didn’t think he would do something like this. How can it be restructuring if the person I trained now has my job? Essentially he took the opportunity of a system change while I was gone to get rid of me because they had no other way.

Now, I will say this, losing the job did not bother me as much as being lied to (I work in transportation and the field is fairly specialized), so I did what I needed to do. I asked him why he lied to my face, how it could be called restructuring, how he could sit there with a smug look on his face and if he had it planned from the time that I requested the vacation? His response, “You no longer work here so I don’t need to explain anything to you”. Can you believe that? After five years of blood, sweat, determination to succeed and putting up with his intolerable bullshit, that is the answer I get. It’s a shame really, and I hope the person that got my job can deal with what is to come for him, more of the same.

All that aside, I’m excited to be leaving, I’m excited to explore, and I’m excited to look for a new job when I get home. One that treats people, well, like people. One that does not look at you like an ass in a chair.

I’m all packed and ready to go. Five shirts, three pairs of pants, five pairs of underwear and socks. My camera and related gear, my laptop, my journal. I’m all set to have a great experience and put all this nonsense behind me. I’m going to worry about the road ahead and what lies in front of me. The past is the past and you just keep going, keep dreaming, keep learning. I’m looking forward to it.

The next post will be once we land in Sweden and get situated, providing I can snag some WiFi at the hotel. You will be hearing from me more often, I apologize for the delays so far.

Keep your eyes on the horizon and never stop dreaming.