five years

(This is the scene that greeted me in the office kitchen this morning.)

This week marks my five-year anniversary with The Nature Conservancy. This is the longest stretch of time I've worked in the same place and I don't intend on going anywhere anytime soon. I love what I do for a living and working for a non-profit that is highly supportive of work-life balance is a dream.

Weird story - I spent the summer of 2003 living with friends back in Anchorage, trying to figure out what to do and where to go next. Did I want someplace new or somewhere familiar? And which place would that be, exactly? During that time a job opened up in The Nature Conservancy's Anchorage office and I decided to apply. I went through two rounds of interviews (later I learned I was the top candidate) but ultimately decided I wasn't going to stay in Alaska. I took myself out of contention and ended up moving back to St. Maarten to teach.

Fast forward three years to spring 2006 - Matt and I decided we were moving to Wisconsin so I started browsing job openings for environmental jobs in Madison. The exact same job I interviewed for in Anchorage in 2003 was available in the Madison office. I applied, had a couple of crazy interviews via an international cell phone connection, had one more in-person interview when we arrived in Wisconsin, and got it! Right place, right time and I'm so, so happy it all worked out the way it did.