I recently received an email that literally changed my life.

I was sitting in work, going through emails and doing various tasks related to my job, when suddenly this email appeared in my inbox with a ‘bing’.  The sender was familiar, but I was still surprised to see an email from him, as I rarely correspond with this guy.  It was safe enough to open the email as it was from within the organisation. So I started to read it.

My jaw dropped.  The guy was literally asking if I would like to join his team, as they felt I might have skills they could use.

To be honest, I was not sure how to react, so I just stared at the screen in disbelief.  What’s even more amazing is that joining his team would require me to move to the US, a move that I had always dreamed of.

This was an opportunity I could not turn down, so I instantly replied and expressed my interest – as you do!

The next call was to my wife.  I briefly explained what had happen and she replied by screaming down the phone of utter delight.  I took that as a yes.

Before proceeding with any kind of interview, I spoke to my boss.  He was very supportive and saw this as a great move, despite being somewhat sadden by the prospect of losing his best guy 🙂

Each day, after I expressed my interest, I had a list of new emails and meetings lined up, so the US guys could make sure that I was indeed the right guy for their team.

They even flew my wife and I over to meet them in the US, including having a guide available to us. He showed us the areas they recommended us to live in. The guide was also there so we would be more comfortable with this move.  To make it even more perfect they had arranged for us to meet local families, so we could talk to them about schools and medical support.

We we driven around the various areas around the county, so we could get a feel for where we might want to live. We also had culinarial experiences – introducing us to US portions.

An example of this.  We ordered two pizzas one evening, a small and a normal size pizza.  A small pizza in Ireland is about 7″ and a normal is about 10″.  However, in the US a small pizza is about 10″ and a normal is about 16″.  There was no way we could finish those, so I had pizza two days. My wife hasn’t had pizza ever since.

I had a full day interview on the last day of our US visit, which was broken into 7 different meeetings.  There were so many things going through my mind.

A few days after returning home, I was offered the job and I accepted.  Happy days 🙂

We are moving across to the US in July, to start our new life and new challenges. It is all good.  We are shitting ourselves about the physical move, but the US firm has assigned a team to make the move as smooth as possible.

One minor problem is that all our gadgets will not work in the US because of the different voltage.  I guess we just have to buy new stuff.

There are still so many things to plan;

• What happens to our house
• Dealing with utility bills and moving these
• Who want to buy our car
• What size TV to buy in the US
• Where to live
• Which kick-ass super size car to get
• Selling all the stuff we can’t use in the US
• Deciding what to bring

All we are waiting for now is the visa application to be accepted.  Wish us luck with the upcoming move.  Obama, it’s your turn to host dinner – 7pm ok?

BUT, nothing is certain yet, until the contract has been received and until we get the visa.  Once this falls into place, then we can start making the arrnagements and notify the various people we know – schools, post office, phone, insurances, bank, etc.  This list is endless!

I can’t believe an email can change your life!

Ready or not – we are coming to the US.  We are really excited about this move and are looking forward to meeting y’all.