Mark was offered an exciting new job.  Just one problem: the job was in Michigan. Mark had lived and worked in Texas for thirty years.  Wife Joyce loved Texas and the many friends and family surrounding her there.  She was not sold on the prospect of moving, especially to a place where the climate wasn’t always so welcoming.  

The couple returned to Michigan for a second look.  As Joyce recalls, “We stayed in a dumpy Howard Johnsons motel in a dumpy suburb.”   It was the second day of Pesach, a Jewish holiday she and Mark normally celebrated with family and feasting.  “We ate food from a little refrigerator in our lonely room.  It was March.  The winter snow was thawing and dirty.  I was beyond depressed.  All I saw was an ugly, desolate place.”

But Mark wanted to accept the position running one of the country’s largest and most dynamic Jewish Community Centers.  Joyce had resolved  to be gracious.  As a peace offering, she had purchased a card for her husband.   On the front was a quote from Vivian Greene.  Life isn’t about waiting for the showers to pass.  It’s about learning to dance in the rain.  As Joyce put it, “Mark dances.  I get wet.”  She hadn’t had a chance to give Mark the card.  It was stored it in her handbag.

On that trip, Joyce and Mark went house hunting.  The realtor showed them a residence that should have been perfect.  It had marble and granite countertops and was within walking distance of Mark’s new job.  Joyce wasn’t dancing.  She trudged away.  The realtor took them to another house, a shotgun on a lake.   Joyce has a creative streak.  She perked up.  The barn shaped garage was painted a soft green.  The front door, blue and purple. Joyce liked the whimsical paint treatment.  The house looked as though it belonged to an artist.  Inside Joyce found a bedroom that had been turned into an artist’s studio.  Every wall wore a different color.

In that studio, Joyce peeked around a corner.  She spotted the artist’s computer.   Tacked to the wall above she noticed something that caused her heart to pirouette.  There was the exact card she had in her purse.

Joyce put her hands in the air and said to her husband, “I give up.  This is it.  This place knows us.  We’re going to be okay.”

Joyce and Mark have lived happily in that house for almost eight years. Joyce loves Michigan now.  And Mark still loves his job.

(Thanks for sharing your Monday with me.  Make my day even brighter by sharing your Godsigns stories.)