We escaped the hustle/bustle, crime, and corruption of big city Atlanta, GA (where I was born and raised and Sharon lived from early teens) in 2007. The door cracked open and we jumped through it. We had been wanting to depart the ATL for about 4-5 years. Sharon’s work took us to rural east Alabama where we bought 21 acres of old pastureland and built a nice Southern Living design home.

Loved it. Planned to retire there. But stuff happens.

Prior to leaving ATL, the company Sharon worked for, Russell Corp., was bought by Fruit of the Loom out of Boiling Green, KY. In 2007, they moved her division, Mossy Oak Apparel, to Russell’s founding city, Alexander City, AL. The land we bought was about a 25 mile ride south to her work. Awesome. Living the country life. Easy commute for her. I kept running my small marketing business from a home office.

Fast forward to 2009. Fruit tells Sharon’s group they have decided to shutter most of the Alabama operation and everything and everyone is moving to KY headquarters. Dreams of our country retirement were deflated. We discussed the option of moving to KY and quickly decide NO – we aren’t following another employer. And good thing we didn’t. Within 2-3 years, FOTL had shut down most divisions of the old Russell, Corp.

So, what to do once Sharon’s job was gone? We needed two incomes to support this nice home we built.  But, we’re living in a very poor, rural area of east Alabama and there weren’t many high-paying jobs in the area. Still aren’t.  We decide to sell … or TRY to sell a $500K home and 21 acres, down a 3-mile dirt road, in the middle of nowhere (exactly where we wanted to be). It would take a special family to but this home. But we have to try so we put it on the market.

Now, what to do for gainful employment and where to live (if/when we sell it) and we have no desire to go back to the ATL or any other big city. We have learned to love small town America.

Light bulb goes off. Find a couple’s job since we have worked together a lot over the years in our marketing business.

I started doing some research online and discovered two very good websites that specialize in promoting couple’s jobs: Caretaker.org and Workingcouples.com. We had NO IDEA there were so many jobs for couples available and being offered. And, there are other sites beyond these two that can help, too. Note: in spring 2014, Workingcouples.com launched a sister site called Workinginnkeepers.com specializing in only Inn Keeper jobs since that is a big segment of these type of jobs.

That’s how our couple’s Job seed was planted. The silver lining from a job loss dark cloud. Stay positive and look for the next door to open. It will.