If you’re familiar with the southeastern part of Europe, you might recognize that family name as coming from Yugoslavia. Or Jugoslavija.
In Jugoslavija, you might spell my name “Yurkovich” or “Jurkovic” or “Jurkovich.”
Which is why I go by Janie J.
I figured if I was going to have to reinvent my life, I was going to reinvent my name too.
My former husband and I traveled extensively for his military career. Most notably, we spent 3 years in Germany and 2 years in Turkey. That’s where we adopted our son, Bradley, after 10 years of marriage and years of infertility treatments.
Right before my former spouse retired from the military, we intentionally came back to Fresno for his last assignment. I started to help my parents with a property management business specializing in commercial warehouses. Then my Dad and I started building them. I built five warehouses and got my general contractor’s license along the way.
I was managing $6.6 million in properties when my husband left. But it didn’t mean I had access to that kind of cash.
Due to great advice and encouragement from friends, I got my finances in order, paid off the debts accumulated during the late stages of the marriage and earned my real estate brokers license. (It wasn’t as simple as all this sounds - you can get the full story in “Single and Sixty” and it took a few years.)
When I decided to get in shape, I joined a boot camp. Then I started walking because I couldn’t even jog. Eventually I was able to jog - you don’t come out the first day and start running ten miles - and then after I competed in a few local 5k races, I got recruited into a masters track club. At age 65, I ranked in the top 10 in a national competition for two events.
While I traveled a great deal with my former spouse for his work, I travel now for my own enjoyment. My first and scariest solo trip after the divorce was to San Francisco, which might sound a little weak sauce to some of you, but I had never driven to or in the city by myself.
Since then I’ve solo traveled to North Carolina, South Carolina, a dude ranch in Wyoming, Tennessee, Hawaii, and Arizona (where I bought a warehouse).
I’ve also been to Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Egypt, France and Italy with groups or on tours. I went to Croatia for a month in June 2019 (my first solo international trip).
Solo adventures have continued and include western USA (Arizona/Colorado/Nevada/California), and Maui, Hawaii. In 2022, she went on an overseas tour of religiously significant sites in Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Vienna with a group. More recently she has been cruising to Mexico and the Mediterranean! When Janie J isn’t busy traveling, she enjoys life with her dogs, chickens, and sheep on her small farm in Central California.
While it might sound like I have “arrived” somewhere, I know it’s an ongoing journey and there is still much for me to do.
I continue to write and share about this journey to continue to encourage other women to live THEIR best lives.
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