Four months after the breakup, I also lost my job. And the replacement I found paid half as much. To make ends meet, I got a second job. Then a third. I was managing my mortgage payments, but there was no room in the budget to finish the renovation. My house was in no condition to rent out, making it impossible to leverage my one real asset. Then came some more bad news: I was laid off for the second time in nine months. After that, my furnace blew and my pipes froze and burst. It was in the 30s inside the house. My credit cards were nearly maxed out, and most of my savings were gone. I went to the library each day to apply for jobs and keep my hands warm. After just 10 days, I got a job interview. By the end of the month, I had an employment offer. There was just one catch: The position was in Portland, Oregon. I had only two weeks to move across the country.