When we think of "faith", we tend to think of one's religion. But put simply - faith is the belief in the unknowable. That's why it is the perfect word to describe religion, because religion is a belief that something is true with no concrete proof that it is.

I've discovered that I too have a kind of faith, one that may be described as a kind of spirituality, but not couched within the dogmas or ritual of any religion. I'm not sure if it even involves a single deity. I simply believe that things happen for a reason, and that the universe puts signs on the road of life to help guide us in the direction we were meant to go. It's when we choose a path other than the one we were meant to take that we struggle.

I came to this personal understanding rather late in life. There were a series of events that led to me and Raine becoming husband and wife that cemented this faith in my consciousness. When I fought the inevitable, I struggled. Some rather concrete signs (which I'll not go into) showed me the error of my ways. There was still some transitional pain, but I eventually found that happiness and fullfillment that had been missing for so long.

It was in January of this year that Raine and I (as well as Mala and TriSec and his family) attended the Presidential inauguration in Washington DC. As we walked among the historic buildings and monuments and drank in the rich history and energy of being in our nation's capital, we remarked how much we'd love to live and work there. Someday, we thought...

The next month we were in NY visiting family. I remarked to Raine how dissatisfied I was with my job and wanted to change. We had previously discussed our "5 year plan" which involved relocating from GA. The economy was swirling at the bottom of the toilet bowl though, and looking for a new job seemed ludicrous. I'd just have to wait it out.

Apparently, the universe had other plans.

As we were riding the bus to the airport, I got the call that my position had been eliminated. I was unemployed in the middle of the worst economic meltdown of my lifetime. I was told I would get a severance, but the fear was palpable. We immediately began making "worst case scenario" plans.

I got the 5 weeks severance pay (one week for every year at the job), plus unused vacation time. We felt we could make it last 3-4 months, and hopefully I'd find a job in that time. I also signed up forunemployment, and was working a delivery job at a pizza place 3 nights a week to suppliment.

As it turns out, the money lasted 8 months. Every month when I wrote the rent check, I felt a pang of panic, knowing what a big chunk that was taking out of our ever-depleting reserves. However, I had faith that something would turn up.

I held that faith right up to the end, and in the end, I DID get a job. As we ran out of money, I got the call. It's a good job with a good company and it's in DC. As it turns out, it is a job doing software support rather than software development. Perhaps that was one lesson I was meant to learn - that although I CAN do application development, my place in life is to be a troubleshooter, something I do VERY well, and HAVE done well throughout my career. With this job I will once again have the opportunity to do some development of troubleshooting and repair utilities, which is the kind of development I really enjoyed to begin with.

Once I had the job, however, we had to find a home in DC. By this time, feeling like this is where we were meant to be, I had faith that we would find the right place, and would know it when we found it. It was discouraging at first, finding the wrong place in the right neighborhood, or the right place in the wrong neighborhood. None of them felt right.

As some of you already know, I had gone to NY for the final in a long series of interviews with a software company in the village of Warwick, NY. After scheduling the trip, I got the call from my present employer in DC, asking if I could come to DC for an interview, so I drove down to DC from NY for the interview that got me the job.

I previously mentioned recognizing the signs... When I looked at the place where we eventually ended up, it felt right. It was the right place in the right neighborhood. The kicker, however, was that the housing development in which the townhouse resides is called Warwick Village! I immediately knew on some gut level that we would end up living there even as I looked at other places. We did and we do, and yes, it's the perfect place for us. I believe that as time passes, that will become even more apparent to us.

We are living and working where we were meant to. I firmly believe this; I have faith.

While this is primarly a political blog, I felt that this story might provide some reassurance to others that may be struggling in their lives. Sometimes the road is rocky, but as long as you recognize the signs and follow them - even if they lead in a different direction from what you desire - the universe will lead you to the right destination.

It just takes a little faith.