Unfortunately, I was still unemployed. My marriage was still under a lot of strain. Years of couples counseling had helped some, and years of personal development work with the Man Kind Project had laid a foundation, but in January, Julie and I separated.

After Julie and I separated, I moved in with a friend. I told him I needed a place to stay for a while, not sure how long, and he said I could stay as long as I needed. That turned out to be almost two years. Julie and I were not able to resolve things, and we divorced in August of 2024. That has been one of the most difficult things I've ever gone through. The support of the Man Kind Project was essential for me during that time and afterwards.

In the meantime, I had been out of software work for about 9 months, and had run out of unemployment benefits, and now I didn't have any income. So I started driving for Uber, and then I started a handyman company.

My company, I Can Do That handyman services has been in business since February 2024 and is doing very well. My income isn't quite the same as what I was making as a software engineer, but money isn't everything.