The adventures of late night shopping with my boss

I've been at a conference this week. Last night my boss had to run into town and get some things for the closing of the conference and I tagged along for the ride. 

My boss is a good person to process things with, so we talked a little bit about the conference, how it was going for him since he was in leading it, good simple work conversation. We past a hookah bar, I told him we should go, he laughed and asked me if I have ever smoked hookah (I have- like 3 times) which lead to questions about smoking and drinking. It was honest, light-hearted and good for us to understand each other more. 

We ran to a few stores, he told me he needed to go to a drug store, and asked if I was okay in not knowing in what we were getting. I said "no, I need to know for us to go" 

When we were in target, I asked if he could get his mystery drug store item here. He said,  "yeah I think so." I asked if I could know what it is what he is getting and he says,"it will make you really uncomfortable, are you sure you want to know?" I opted out, I wasn't ready to be really uncomfortable. 

And he headed off to the condom isle. 

So, let me tell you, it's really really uncomfortable going to the store with just you and your boss and he is getting something out of that isle and its 11:00pm at night. Then he says, I forgot my wallet, can I borrow a little more than $10.00 from you-- cash-- he won't let me put it on my card. Strange, I give him cash and go wait by the door for him.

I think while he was checking out, he realized that he made this situation WAY more uncomfortable for me than it actually was. In a very nervous/anxious way he announced he was getting a pregnancy test for someone I work with. --- he wasn't getting condoms---

I became WAY MORE comfortable, but curious of who, I narrowed it down to 4 options- didn't dare to ask who after all of that. 

So we keep going, looking for an random candy item that he needs, running in and out of gas stations looking for it.

After no sucess, we head out back to our conference. He starts off the conversation with this, "Becky, have you applied to other jobs while you have been working at our camp?" 

Big question, very pointed, I'm a little scared. 

"Yes, I have" is my response. 

It's a hard response to say to your boss. I wasn't expecting or anticipating that question, I didn't have thought-out answers. 

He, of course, knew that I have, he said he could just tell, and saw that I was looking at jobs. I'm pretty sure the boy who is always at our house told him in actuality. 

He asked me things about it, he asked me why I felt the need to hide it from him. 

Boom! 

That's a hard question. He asked it in a sincere way, in a way that I knew he was hurt and our relationship had suffered a little because of me keeping this from him. I answered carefully and truthfully. 

I then asked, if he wanted to hear the whole story of that-- he didn't answer (aka, him saying no) I told him anyway. I told him that I interviewed for a job Thursday morning, and that he was in a conference call with the guy who was interviewing me, and how that made the rest of my interview hard. 

That the Lord than spoke to me clearly that night and told me that I need to stay and take this Bible study seriously, and that it will change my life. So I did. 

My boss told me that he really values me, that he puts a lot of weight in my opinions and really looks out for my well-being. 

Which is true, I often see that in action all the time. 

He told me that I have changed A LOT in the past few months. And that he is so excited about it. He has LOVED working with me, that I don't have bad days like I used to. He has told me this multiple times this month-he meant it. 

I agreed and asked how long he has seen that change. He gave me an exact date. 

I responded with, "wow, thats exact, I don't have any memory of that date, what's significant of it?" He wouldn't answer.. 

So I course told him "I just answered your question about if I applied to other jobs, you needs to tell me the significance of that date!"

He did-- It was the day after jack and Katie moved. There was a lot of good in our relationship, my boss told me the bad in our relationship that he saw though.  How now, having this space and distance changed who I was on the day-to day basis. 

We got to conference center too quickly, so much more of this conversation should have been spoken. As we walked up to our cabins, he was telling me how long he wanted to talk to me about this, and if I knew that he knew. I told him I kinda thought he did, but he didn't say anything, so I didn't think he knew when we hit mid-October. 

We got to that spot where our paths split. I told him both then and now, I would have a good conversation with him before I ever go anywhere, and that he would be involved in that process. 

What an adventure!