On October 31, we got flipped upside down when we found out Tyler lost his job unexpectedly with DMC. Halloween day started out normal with attending the kids' Halloween parade. Later that day Tyler said he boss had scheduled a meeting with him and he didn't know what it was for. Normally Tyler has a hard time getting a meeting with his boss because his boss is never available, so it was unusual that his boss wanted to meet with him. I left to pick up Makayla from school and by the time I got home Tyler was already done with the phone call and asked me to come to downstairs. He had a wide eyed, shocked look on his face when his shut the door. All he said was, "they let me go." I couldn't even process what his said and I kept waiting for him to say just kidding. When I finally realized he wasn't kidding, I started to cry. Tyler just sat in shock. Tyler said they wanted to go in a different direction and they didn't need his position anymore. No severance and no insurance. The most frustrating part is that Tyler was hired to get work in the U.S. and he put his name on the line to win a huge 40 million dollar job for them. Instead of offering him a bonus (which the big boss promised would happen if they got work in the U.S.) they let him go. We were shocked and felt so thrown off. Financially we were fine. The mining industry is so up and down so we have always been preparing financially for something like this, but we just thought that right before the holidays was a jerk move.
The rest of the month felt like a blur. Tyler got right to work finding a new job. He has a great network and word spread fast, so within just a few days he had some leads and even a new job offer. Opportunities like this don't come around very often, and Tyler really wanted to make sure his next job was the right one, so we took our time and looked at every option. Tyler applied for numerous jobs (some completely out of his expertise), had numerous interviews, and talked to every possible connection he could. After some negotiation back and forth DMC offered a severance package which helped us to feel like we could take some extra time to really seek out options. Our kids were so great to understand that things were going to look different this month because we would have to cut back on all of our "extras".
Tyler losing his job unexpectedly was definitely the low of the month, but there were a lot of highs too. Here's a look into our everyday life:
Makayla was helping Caden with his hair one morning. Maybe Makayla has a careen in hairdressing?
Caden's Mayhem basketball team fell apart so we were back to square one looking for another team. I swear we have the worst luck staying with a team. Tyler took the lead on finding a new team back in the fall, and after looking at a few options, we decided to go with the Rebels with Coach Darius. He really likes his coach, and is learning a lot. Darius used to coach a team, but took a break and is trying to build up a team again. He is tough on the kids, but knows how to joke with them. Caden loves it when Darius teases him about having a girlfriend. I had to chuckle at this photo because Darius is such a big guy and all the kids look so squished on the remaining bench.
Tyler is soaking up his free time by taking the kids for some one on one time. Makayla got to go with him to breakfast one Friday morning before school.
The kids are so creative and built a miniature golf course upstairs. It was so fun to try.
The next morning Makayla and I went Black Friday shopping at 6 am. We didn't find much, but we had fun together.
By the end of the month, Tyler was closer to deciding on a job. He had it narrowed down to 3 possibilities: Stantec, MES, and Rio Tinto. Hopefully by the end of the year we will have this job thing figured out. Our Thankful Tree was even more important this year. We were really able to see that despite a big change in our family, we have so much to be thankful for.
The smell of mom and dad (Brynn), Sunday Fish sticks (Caden), school... sometimes (Makayla), my human family (Kitty the Elf), family traditions (mom), and Mom's coaching (Tyler).
