Friday, May 18, 2012

Dear Architecture: It's not You, it's Me

Well, my career in Architecture will officially come to a potentially permanent end on June 1st. I have accepted a part-time position with an Engineering company here in town. To say that I'm feeling ambivalent about it is an understatement, but what's done is done. When I think of the people I won't get to see anymore, the nice salary and the awesome fourth-floor Aggieland view I get everyday, I know I'll miss BRW quite a bit: the group of people who work there are really great. When I think of potentially spending 5-6 more months fighting with lazy/incompetent contractors and traveling up to six hours in one day to visit a construction site, not to mention all the extra work away from Sam...I'm happy and relieved that I'm leaving.

While at BRW I got to learn quite a bit about building design, and I'm happy when I think there are four buildings in Texas that look the way they look because of me: I designed their facades. Three of these buildings will serve as a "home away from home" for many firefighters, and the fourth will become THE symbol of civic duty for one town. While I'm happy about this, as Switchfoot says: "...we were meant to live for so much more..."

It may be a challenge for me to really love the new position: I'll be a CAD monkey (which I don't mind, actually), helping design power substations and power lines. Wheee! They look like this:


The company all of a sudden has A LOT of work to get done, work which will last for at least the next two years. They need someone to help engineers get drawings out, and also help create a CAD library of electrical components, etc. which I'm actually excited about (because let's face it, I friggin' love CAD). The company does NOT like overtime, and even offer 401K and some paid vacation/holidays to part time employees, which is unheard of. So I'm pretty excited about that. Even though Sam and I have exhaustively looked at our budget making sure that we will be able to afford my move to part-time I still feel a bit apprehensive; but I have to trust that the Lord will provide. Besides, we are blessed enough that I know we could adjust our budget more if needed.

I just want... peace of mind. I'm tired. I want my job to JUST be a job; not the reason why I'm away from my family.