Three Years

Three years ago this week Joel and I were on vacation...just the two of us. We had decided to go to Tennessee to check out Nashville and also the Smoky Mountains. Our first day in Nashville (it was a Monday) we found out that we were expecting and we were surprised and excited along with all the other emotions that come with realizing you are going to be parents! The first few days of that vacation we were on cloud nine talking about the future and wondering what things would be like for us and our family.

But on Thursday while we were enjoying our cabin up in the mountains Joel had a phone call from his boss. It’s never good when the boss calls while you are on vacation. Joel found out that day that Harley Davidson had decided to shut down Buell Motorcycle in December and they would all be out of a job. Not the news you ever want to hear. Not while you are on vacation and certainly not within 4 days of finding out you are going to have a baby.  Needless to say that put a damper on the rest of our vacation. I felt horrible for Joel because I knew how much he enjoyed working at Buell and anything else wasn’t going to even compare.

We were thankful to have about 2 months notice for Joel to begin to look for something else and they did offer some severance as well. I was still working at the time so I knew at worst that Joel needed to have a job at least by June. With the economy being so slow I honestly didn’t know how long it would take for Joel to find another job. Stories were all over the news about it taking months and even years to find jobs. We had decided we didn’t want to try and move with a baby coming in 8 months so the job search was limited to the Milwaukee area.  Well Joel found another job way before June! God was so faithful to us and answered our prayers. He was offered a job at Briggs & Stratton on Christmas Eve and they wanted him to start the second week of January. So Joel was done at Buell right before Christmas and with the way the holidays were that year it was like he wasn’t even going to have a lapse in work at all. He’d have two weeks off for the holidays and then start the new job. God was so good to us and provided for Joel this great opportunity and the timing was perfect! But I remember Joel saying at one point during those two weeks over the Christmas break that Buell wasn't over. That some day he’d work with motorcycles again and that Buell would be back. I just remember thinking what is he talking about? He’s in total denial that Buell is closed.

Fast forward three years. Obviously our lives have changed tremendously with the arrival of Miss Maya!  I decided to quit my job after 11 years to stay at home with her. Most days I’m glad that this is now my full time job and focus. Joel settled into his job at Briggs but has never really been excited about the product or his role there. It became clear this spring that he needed to start looking for something else. We decided that we’d be open to moving if the right job came along. He looked at a few opportunities in Michigan, Georgia, and here in Milwaukee but nothing seemed to work out. We just kept praying that God would open the right doors and provide the right job. Late this summer there were rumblings that Erik Buell Racing (EBR) was slowly growing and that there might be some opportunities for people to start coming back to work there. I was skeptical and thought Joel and his buddies were living in a dream world. There is no way that they will be able to go back and work at EBR. Well long story short it’s become a reality! Joel started talking to his old boss a few weeks ago and EBR is growing and hiring back slowly. We've done lots of praying and talking through this opportunity. The doors have been opened and it seems like it's the right job. So Joel will be going back into the engineering group and once again be working with a product he loves and is passionate about.

Never in a million years did I think this would be possible for him. I’m excited and so happy for Joel and this opportunity. Obviously it is a bit of a risk as the company is still small and just starting to grow. But what is life without taking risks, right? There is no way he could have given up this opportunity without regretting it.

So three years pretty much to the day of finding out that Buell was closing…Joel officially accepted an offer to go back to work at Erik Buell Racing. Crazy! It will be interesting to see what unfolds over the next three years.

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Most of you probably aren't too interested in the motorcycle industry but if you are here is a recent article/interview with Erik Buell about EBR.

http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/industry-news/2012/09/12/interview-erik-buell-talks-ebr-and-india/