I am so happy to learn of your new job and how you like the people there. Thank goodness there is some good news and it sounds as if you kept visualizing positive things :-)
Although from the U.P., there were few offerings available when I returned twelve years ago. I retired 8 months ago and so many people were waiting in line for my job. Yet, when I left Iowa in 1998, the labor force in Des Moines was so large and highly educated that there were several turnovers yearly in my department. Go figure the economy!