Janice Maggard
Salisbury, N.C.
My husband Bill and I have started to call ourselves 'geo-bachelors.' Even though we've been married more than 20 years, we haven't lived in the same state for the last three.
He was laid off from a well-paying manufacturing job during the financial downturn, and as a stay-at-home mom, I wanted to pick up the slack. The problem was -- we live in a small rural manufacturing town with no jobs!
I hit the federal job board, and was offered a temporary civilian job with the Coast Guard in Anchorage, Ala. We wanted to keep our house, and decided my husband would stay home with our daughter during her last year of high school. I packed up my car and drove all the way from North Carolina to Alaska.
Since then, I've taken more temporary assignments all over the country and sent money back home. And for the most part, it worked. Until just a few months ago, I was making just enough money to stay current on our mortgage and car payments.
Now, I'm finally back on the east coast, working in Washington D.C. but here's the real twist -- Bill just got offered a temp job with the Forest Service. Guess where he is now?
Alaska.
NEXT: Taking a step down
