My Wonderful Ami & 2011 Goals

Wives just don’t get enough credit in general and mine is no different. 2010 was an interesting year for us. I started working for Matchbin Inc in December of 2009. I learned a lot from the great people there and the company introduced me to my future employer. The work required a lot of travel and over the course of the year I boarded exactly 90 planes and visited 16 different states (not including airports). Traveling is glamorous at first. All the hotels, sites, airports, people, etc were really fun at first. Eventually it wore me down and I just wanted to be home with my family but the real sacrifices were never made by the road warrior. They were made by my wife. During Ami’s first trimester she spent over a month bed-ridden. When I say she was stuck in bed I mean it. The nausea was so bad she had to have IVs from house visiting nurse people. Luckily my family was able to fill a gap and my mom was able to move in with Ami during my trips and my sister made frequent stops to clean our house (despite being pregnant herself).

There are many more untold pains and sacrifices that come to a family when the father/husband is gone all the time. Its a lifestyle that I understand can work for some but really wasn’t working for us. Through it all Ami was extremely supportive and grateful that I was able to secure good employment during such a rough economy.

Now I live in Denver. The word I being the key. On December 5th (22 days after Lucy was born) I left to start my new job with Entravision Communications in Denver. I left a recovering wife alone with a 3 year old and a 3 week old. Its worse than it sounds. Dealing with a crazy and demanding child is tough while you are trying to nurse a newborn but there are other responsibilities that Ami was forced to assume. In trying to sell our house in this type of market we have to take full advantage of every house showing we have. This means that Ami is forced to keep the house in absolute perfect cleanliness because you never know when the agent might call and ask to show your house in 3 hours. Mix this in with the Holiday decorating, cooking, shedding dog, and family gatherings and its a miracle she doesn’t pull her hair out.

2011 has started with better hopes for our future than we have had in a long time. Hopefully we will be able to sell our house in the next few months. As Ami joins me we will be able to pick out a home in the very state where we have dreamed of moving since we were married in 2005. In 2009 I did a half marathon. In 2010 I competed in a Triathlon relay with my family. This year I will be running a full marathon. In 2012 I still have to convince Ami but I want to climb Mt Rainer (with a guide:).

goalsOur other goals include going to Disneyland and finalizing our 1 year of food storage and our emergency cash fund. I am also going to read 50 new books. Last year I think I read around 20 but many of those were books I had read once before.

Self-reflection is very healthy and these are among my favorite blog posts to write. So a huge hug and kiss to my wonderful wife and children, and if any of you are in Denver… look me up!

Jacob S Paulsen

1 Comment

  1. Rachael on January 8, 2011 at 5:24 pm

    We love you guys. Ami is one of my personal heroes. Every night in our prayers we include, “And please bless Ami and Jacob that they will sell their house”.

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