October 4, 2005 at 11:56 PM

Supposedly, big changes in your life make you realize what's really important.

This bit of wisdom is usually applied to people who become terminally ill or suffer some major loss; fortunately, I have no such incident to report. In my case, it was a big change that didn't happen that helped me realize what I really care about at this stage in my life.

I've been a little dissatisfied with my job in the last few years, and while poking around my company's website about a month ago, I found a position in Switzerland for which I thought I was highly qualified. It was a job that appealed more directly to my training as a physicist rather than as an engineer, and would give me some room to grow professionally, which I haven't felt like I had in my current position. Not to mention that it would give me an easy way to move to Europe, which I've always wanted to do. So during the application process I did a lot of talking with my husband and two-year-old daughter, and I realized that my biggest concerns had nothing to do with culture shock or language barriers or anything like that. Rather, they were all about music:

1) I've just started violin lessons again with a wonderful teacher who takes me places I never thought I could go, and I don't want to give her up yet!
2) I've got subscription tickets to the San Francisco Symphony, including three Joshua Bell concerts in the spring!
3) What am I going to do with my Steinway grand?

These might seem like superficial concerns to many people, but for me they were a sign of two facts about me: a) My life is pretty darn good if those are my biggest worries, and b) Music is really the most important thing to me right now outside of work and family. Moving to Switzerland would have gone a long way toward improving my foreign language skills---which are my other great passion---but it would have required some musical sacrifices that I didn't really want to make.

As it turns out, I didn't get the job; by the time I submitted my application, they'd already interviewed several candidates and were on their way to finalizing a contract with one of them. And in the meantime, I'm finally getting support from upper management to do a project I've been trying to champion for over a year, so I think I'll be able to find satisfaction here after all. So I'll stay here in the U.S. a bit longer, focus on my music, and maybe the next time such an opportunity rolls around, it will really be the right time for me.

From Carley Anderson
Posted on October 5, 2005 at 12:25 AM

That's awesome, Karen...number one, neat that you want to live in Europe, and number two, that music is what dominated that decision. Bravo!

From Emily Grossman
Posted on October 5, 2005 at 4:50 AM

I know exactly what you can do with that Steinway grand.

From Karin Lin
Posted on October 5, 2005 at 6:55 AM

Carley, actually my music stuff didn't make the decision for me, the hiring manager in Switzerland did :) but like I said, I'm not terribly disappointed because things are working out here after all. I'll get to Europe one of these days, maybe when the girls are older and can get more out of it.

Emily, we were actually planning to have someone babysit the piano for some number of years. But Alaska would have been a bit far. ;)

From Emily Grossman
Posted on October 5, 2005 at 7:40 AM

Just one simple shipment, just like you'd ship anywhere else. :)

From Carley Anderson
Posted on October 5, 2005 at 11:14 AM

Well, right, but I meant that your own personal thoughts were regarding music, not something else. It's neat that you feel like that about music.

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