One Year Ago Today.....

.....my life changed forever.  

I'm living in New Mexico, in a 5th wheel.  My days are consumed with Facebook, Pinterest and what I'm making for dinner.....

Here is a little back story for you all.  I remember the first time I met Brandon.  We went for a walk around Tubbs Hill and he told me he had just finished Avista Lineman school and he was going to go away for awhile for his apprenticeship.  He said he was going to be a lineman and it would require a lot of sacrifice but it would be worth it because he loved it so much.  I responded with life is too short to not do what you love, go for it.  In the back of my mind I was bummed though, I had just met this great guy that I wanted to get to know but I certainly didn't want to do a long distance relationship.  I thought well maybe we can hang out until he leaves and see what happens.  Just so happens the economy went down the tubes, worked stopped and older lineman stayed working instead of retiring.  No one was hiring apprentices and line schools were still putting out tens of thousands of apprentices through their schools each year.  This meant trying to get into this trade was some serious competition.  As Brandon and I started dating I wanted to learn more about his passions so I would stay up late at night and read everything I could about the trade, IBEW, apprenticeships, steps, hours, ect.  I spent countless hours on powerlineman.com going through the forum trying to find ANY piece of advice I could pass on to Brandon.  I sent in application after application for him for jobs all over the country and some in canada.  I would get my hopes up only to be let down when we would receive yet another "thank you for your application" letter in the mail.  I would drive with him to interviews in Seattle and Portland, wait for him while he took tests.  He got a 90%, testing with 500 other guys only to find out they were only taking 95% and higher for in person interviews, for ONE position.  It was the biggest roller coaster I have ever experienced and even harder for him. Our whole life (and relationship) was consumed with applications, questionnaires, interviews, faxing drivers license and birth certificates.  Brandon interviewed for NW JATC and ranked 26 out of 300 guys, ranked 30 with Mountain States out of 300 guys, but the lists were not moving.  A year and a half later I remember getting my hopes up about this job on the coast in Washington.  I found the job posting on a whim, it was for a utility and Brandon was perfectly qualified.  I sent in his application as soon as I saw it and called the next day to follow up.  They said they had received it and was looking at it right now.  They said they were very impressed with his resume and they would be calling later that week for interviews.  We felt like "this is it, everything happens for a reason, none of those other calls came because this is the one he was supposed to get."  I remember Thursday coming and going and no call, I got a terrible feeling in my stomach.  I called from work to check and see how their interview process was coming.  They said "Ms. Williams I am so sorry but we have already booked all our interviews, we had to fill this position faster than we thought and had hundreds of applications.  We will keep Brandon's application on file."  My heart sank, I was so bummed.  In the meantime,  Brandon was ranked #1 with NW on October 12th 2010 and did not get called out, worked slowed and stopped.  That was something, to be so close, yet so far away.  By the time work picked back up, Brandon had been bumped up to 50 something. 

Brandon had taken a Powerline Clearance Apprenticeship with NW JATC.  He thought, "I cant get much closer to line work related than this, this will get me an apprenticeship on line side."  He went to seattle and interviewed and felt really good.  We thought, "this is it, this is the summer you are going to get on with NW and everything is going to be perfect.  You ranked 26 before with just having line school experience, I bet you'll rank top 10 with the powerline clearance experience!"   We were thrilled, life was great, we were just enjoying the time we had together because we KNEW he was going to get called out to NW this summer, there was no way he wouldn't.  I got home from work and checked the mail and there was a letter from NW and we knew it would have his rank on it.  I waited for him to get home and we sat on the back porch and opened it, so excited to see the good news.  I will never forget the heartbreak I felt when I saw number 86.  Brandon called NW and said there must be some kind of mistake, you gave me the wrong rank and they said "no, we want you to finish the powerline clearance program first, so we ranked you really high" I have never been so mad and so let down in my life.  Here we did something that we thought would HELP him, not PREVENT him from getting the call.    Believe it or not, Brandon still made it down to the top ten that summer on NW rank list.  

Few times in our relationship I watched my future husband be broken and lost.  It broke my heart to watch him put is head in his hands and say "maybe I'm just not supposed to do this, maybe I'm just not good enough"  "Why don't they want me, what do THOSE guys have that I don't?"  It took 3 of the longest years but Brandon got the call.  He interviewed with Mountain States and ranked really well.  He got down to number 1 and we thought, "oh maybe you will get called out this summer" We didn't have much faith after what had happened with NW, in fact we didn't even have a trailer bought for him yet.  We decided we better buy him a trailer, "Its september and there is still a lot of work so I will probably get called out" so we bought him a 23 ft trailer in spokane.  Two days later he got the call.  He called me Monday at work and said "I have to be in Denver Wednesday morning, its going to be a 22 hour drive so I have to leave tonight" It was the happiest and saddest moment.  I was thrilled, the stress, the searching, the applications, the worry, the doubt was OVER.  Now it was just a matter of time, 3 short years and he would be done with his apprenticeship and back home.  I was on top of this world!! I was also devastated because I had no idea when I would see him again.  I had just started a new job 3 weeks before with great pay and great career opportunities, so I knew I wouldn't be going with him.  I remember going home and packing him up to leave.  Folding his laundry and tears just streaming down my face.  I remember packing him up to move away, not just for the week or a month, for 3 years.  I couldn't contain my emotions, I was so sad.  The love of my life, my best friend was moving away and I didn't know when I would see him again.  I watched as his tail lights pulled out of the driveway and he pumped the brakes to say goodbye.  I just sobbed.  It ended up being about 10 weeks before we saw each other again, the longest time we had ever been apart.  It was really hard on both of us.  

This last year has been so full of ups and downs, emotions and lessons learned. Brandon has worked in 3 different states on 5 different crews and still counting.  I moved to be with him after we got married in August and I am learning something new every day about life and some of the hard things that come with it.  I am also learning about being a wife.  I am so proud of my husband.  I have never seen a man more dedicated, passionate, honest, committed and proud about what he does.  He is also a committed Husband.  Being a newlywed is hard, being a newlywed, living in a 5th wheel (300 sq feet) 2000 miles away from friends and family and working 15 hour days is even harder.  Brandon makes sure to ask me how my day was every day after work even though I know all he wants to do is go to sleep. I have never been more in love with him than I am today.  He is the love of my life, my best friend and my wood walker.