What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been Part 4

New Job Means Moving

I transferred jobs at the bank so I could become a loan adjustor and go back to school at BYU Provo. This meant we moved in with my parents for a couple of months while we looked for a place of our own.

Homeowners

After a few more moves, we decided renting wasn’t much fun anymore. Thanks to a kind uncle who loaned us the money for our down payment and closing costs, we purchased our first house in Orem. We could finally put a hole in the wall without having to pay for it! LOL!

And Along Came the Baby Carriage…and Another!

Tamara and I had been trying, without luck, to have children. While on a visit to some friends in Canada, we found out that they were going through the adoption process. This got us thinking about adoption, so we started the process as well. This got me thinking, way too much. I was wondering if I would be a good dad, what kind of example I would be, could I love a child as much as I loved my wife, and what type of influence I’d be to our child. One day we received a phone call from Tamara’s OBGYN who had an expectant mother in his office who wanted to put her child up for adoption. We were the first couple he thought of. This was the first miracle of many miracles. We didn’t have to pay very much for the legal work for the adoption and time went by so fast through it all. The next thing I knew we were officially parents of a handsome baby boy. I was proud, overjoyed, and scared to death all at once. What if I failed? Nine months later we found out we were going to have a baby. What exciting news! What terrifying news! Two children under two. I felt like we were an instant family.

During this time, I worked at Kennecott Utah Copper in their IT Department helping setup a helpdesk support system for the company. My friend and I drove from Provo to Salt Lake City every day to work. I’d work two weeks on day shift, two weeks on afternoons, and then two weeks on graveyard shift. It was awful. Trying to get used to changing time was not fun. There were many ups and downs during this time. I had a good support system but that wasn’t always enough.

The Never-Ending Roller Coaster

I had been riding the emotional roller coaster ride (it was definitely not a Disneyland E ticket ride) for about 7 years when I heard an ad on the radio for a depression study at the University. The symptoms they listed fit me to a T, so I signed up for it. After the study I found out that I had severe depression. Finally, someone believed me, and it wasn’t all in my head! I was put on Paxil and over the next 3 months I gained 40 lbs. And for someone who had always been 165-185lbs this was quite a shock. No one told me I’d gain weight from the meds. So frustrating. Except for gaining weight, things felt like they were much better. I felt good again, the lows weren’t quite so low and the highs, being manic, were great.

Just after our daughter was born, I received an emotional blow. Kennecott decided to outsource our whole department and I got laid off.  This wasn’t my first time being laid off during my career, but now we owned a home, and we had two kids, so it was more devastating. It took 3 months to find a job and it was out of state. This meant selling our home and moving once again.