I got it!

They low-balled the offer and for the first time in my life, I firmly pushed back--yet another new risk for me. It worked. They brought up the dollars. Whew!

I start April 9th, but was sure to also negotiate my previously scheduled days off, too! So I can still attend my First-Born crop in Denton on April 12th and my two separate vacations planned for this summer. [I think I have had a new job or was in transition to a new job at each of the Denton crops I attended. Not the way I envisioned my career.]

Now to give my notice. Since the latest re-org in my department, I now report to a little gray box on the org chart called TBD.--I report to a vacant position, which means I need to escalate up a level. That should be interesting.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
---Mark Twain