Jay Kersting's Blog

On Sunday, November 26, 2006, Kathy and I drove from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Jefferson City, Missouri, to learn more about a job opportunity.  What everyone knows now is that I took that job and now we call Jefferson City our home.  What many don't understand is how we got here.....and why. 

Many who have gotten to know me since we got to Jefferson City wonders what would make me up root my family.  Everyone who knew me in Knoxville probably still wonders why I would leave that area.  The answer is in what lies behind the facade.

Here is the situation that existed for us in Knoxville.  I was working five days a week in a job that had no future, in fact, I later learned how short that future was.  THEN I also worked on weekends doing two different things.  One, I hosted/moderated radio shows for experts in a variety of fields.  My job with that was simple for me, not so easy for others, fill time when there were no calls and redirect things back to the main topic.  I also got to host a show of my own on Sundays.  The other job was to work as a stringer for various radio networks covering Tennessee football and basketball games. 

That weekend work was fun to a point and beneficial toward building up my skills as a show host.  But really, I did it for one key reason.  WE NEEDED THE MONEY!!! 

On the other hand, Kathy had a good job with the University of Tennessee Men's Athletic Department.  She was paid OK but she had decent benefits, as well as some other perks that go along with being in an athletic department.  She also had no room to move up and she worked for a man who was demanding to say the least and thought of as a tyrant by many.

So, the facade of everything in Knoxville being great for the Kerstings was just that, a facade.  OK, a LIE!

Don't get me wrong.  It wasn't bad.  We were able to take our first real family vacation in July 2006.  We went to Walt Disney World and had a great time as a family.

But it was at Walt Disney World that it hit me.  Kathy was working a lot of overtime and I was working seven days a week so that we could take this vacation in order to spend more time with each other.

This was STUPID.  Spending more time away from each other so that we could spend more time together?

Don't misunderstand and don't look at this as a grab for pity, far from it.  Kathy and I did not take on all this extra work JUST for some damned vacation.  We did need the money for other reasons, which is why we didn't quit after the vacation.

So, when an opportunity was presented to us that would allow me to make more money AND have my weekends free (most of the time), we had to come look at it.

As it turns out, here is what happened.  We spent five months split apart, me living in a motorhome, Kathy as a single parent (with a LOT of help from my parents....Kathy said that, not them).  That was the bad....

Now the good.  We have a newer and larger house with a huge garage.  We have family game nights and/or family movie nights at least once a week....usually more often.  We found the pool at Memorial Park, which is like a small version other water parks.  We go to movies as a family more often.  We have been to one, so far, major league baseball game (Royals, of course).  We have visited my younger brother and his family and they have come down to visit us.

So, to those who wonder why I left a place that I called home for nine and a half years to go work at a smaller radio station in a smaller town, now you know why. 

I have Kathy, Alex and Ben here.  This IS home.