“Remoted” Day 336 (Monday)

On this date in 2013, it was my last day of work at the full-service marketing agency in Tennessee where I had worked for 6 years and 11 months. It was a great job with a great team, and a wonderful learning experience. The projects I worked on were varied and interesting. There was account literature, ad campaigns, and even a historical video for banking clients; video scripts, website content, and mentions in industrial publications for our iron foundry client; research, video scripting, and historic interpretive panels for a Civil War Interpretive Park; research and content development for a project for the local museum; and countless other projects I was fortunate to be entrusted with.

Leaving a great job, selling a house I loved, and moving 1,200 miles with no job lined up was nuts. Looking back on how long it took to restart the career, all I gave up in Tennessee, and how hard it has been to try and rebuild a life since returning, I probably would not do it again. In Tennessee, I was frustrated and missed my family, and it took leaving to realize just how great I had it there. 

Beer tour victory shirt.

My house was adorable and affordable in a terrific location. There was a large social circle and an artistic life that included an arts co-op and events at the local museum. There were colleagues, artists, friends, and teammates with whom to socialize. I could go to arts openings, Chamber of Commerce events and ribbon cuttings and know most of the people attending.

Coinciding with the last day of agency work was the triumphant completion of my second World Beer Tour at the Old Chicago Pizza and Taproom in Clarksville. The beer tour consists of drinking 110 beers. It took me roughly three years to complete the first beer tour, and about a year to complete the second. Once the house was listed for sale the clock was ticking on that second tour and I was determined to finish. The beer tour program includes mini-tours throughout the year with commemorative tee shirts, and progress gifts at designated benchmarks. I earned bottle openers, a compass, ball cap, travel cup, sweatshirt, and dozens of tee shirts. Beer tour completion got my name on a metal plaque on “The Wall of Foam.” While this feat carried a level of satisfaction, it did not carry the same sense of accomplishment as seeing my name listed in the credits of the video shown at the Interpretive Park, or bylines in the weekly newspaper at a previous job. Most of the beer tour commemorative items were donated to charity on my way out of town, but I still have every issue of the weekly and monthly papers I wrote for.

The best thing about Old Chicago was the friends and our standing Thursday night meetup which sometimes included playing trivia and any time the weather was nice enough, sitting on the deck discussing any number of interesting topics. Sometimes there were two of us, other times it was a crowd, and it was always fun. Looking back, February 2013 marks more than the end of my Tennessee residency. It’s also the last time I had a social life.

As stressful as having a house on the market for a year and the uncertainty of not knowing when I would be leaving my job and moving, and trying to conduct a job search from 1,200 miles away, the really hard work began after that last day of work and celebratory conquering of the beer tour. There was two weeks before the closing to finish downsizing the household, pack, and move.