Isn’t that the song you sing when someone is leaving a job or retiring? I don’t really know, but I wanted to take a chance to celebrate Matthew as he took a big step this past week. When we made the decision to move to the DMV this summer and then live in Italy for the fall semester, Matthew was in a phase of exploration in his career. If you didn’t know, Matthew has worked in health care tech for the past 10 years. He built his career from scratch, beginning in client services and working his way up to business analyst, scrum master, and most recently Senior Product Manager at UPMC Health Plan. I couldn’t be prouder of his work in this field, and I know he’s been a valuable asset for the various companies he’s worked for. However, Matthew has always had to desire to step away from the industry and re-assess his goals for his career and what he wants to do moving forward. We saw this extended time away out of the country as an opportunity for him to do just that. Also, turns out working for a US company remotely for longer than a few weeks isn’t really a legal thing!
All that to say, Matthew put in his notice and said goodbye to his coworkers on Friday. I know they were sad to lose him, but I am so proud of his decision to take this time off. It’s not normalized in our society to take extended leaves from work apart from family or medical reasons. I think that’s a shame. We work our tails off, squirreling away and holding off on enjoying our work-free time until we’re 65. Unfortunately, we aren’t guaranteed to make it that far. So why not “retire as you go”? Sure, it’s risky financially and future employers may scratch their heads at a gap in your resume. But so far, anytime Matthew has told his colleagues about what he plans to do for the next 4 months, their first response is “I’m so jealous! Good for you!”
I also recognize not everyone has this luxury or privilege. We definitely benefit from economic and societal privilege and have good support systems to fall back on – not to mention how hard Matthew has worked and saved for the past 10 years and the sale of our mobile coffee business in 2023 that gave us a little cushion to be able to do this. There’s still a lot of unknowns. Will Matthew have a job when we get back? Will I get a job when I graduate? Where will we live when we’re back? Will we blow all our money on pasta and wine? Somehow, I know Matthew and I will look back on this time and be glad that we took some of these risks and had this experience. I’m so proud of him for going against the grind and taking this time to explore and enjoy things. If anyone else has a chance to do something like this, I’d encourage you to! As the kids (used to) say…YOLO.
We are very proud of Matt and know this “break in the work action” will be an interesting time of great growth for both of you! Your futures are as bright as your present experiences! We are also jealous, but so excited for to see what comes next for you both!!