At the end of each day, when the children are tucked in bed and finally snuggled sound asleep among pillows and stuffed animals, I take a look around the house and sigh. The kitchen counters overflow with dirty dishes from a quickly cooked supper, the living room is cluttered with books, winter gear, kid toys and dog toys, and the dining room table is buried in mail, coloring books, to-do lists and bills.
It’s time to pick up.
It’s also a clear metaphor for where our family is at right now. We just need to collect our thoughts, pick up a few things and then get back to having a little more fun and a lot less worry.
About a month ago, Jason found out his office is closing its Fargo office. Several employees have already been let go and more are slated for later this spring, fall and finally the end of the calendar year. Jason’s employed until the end of the year and is doing the best to keep up his spirits, but it was still quite a blow. He was laid off five years ago during budget cuts at another company so it’s a path we’ve been on before. But now we have two kids.
My job has been very demanding for the past six weeks as we relaunched our Web site. Instead of coming home at the end of the day a little mentally exhausted but ready to play, laugh and just be with my family, I’ve come home crabby, spent and ready to crawl into bed. I love my work and I love being part of this experience, but I can’t do both family and work at this level.
Add to those factors a teething Gavin and fiercely independent Natalie who’s been testing her limits at school. And of course the fact that our community has a 30-some percent chance of having as severe of a spring flood as last season – when we had to evacuate our home and move our entire basement possessions upstairs, not to mention the hours of sandbagging, praying and more sandbagging.
Kinda sounds like a really messy kitchen, living room and dining room, doesn’t it?
But we’ll be fine. We’re buying drain plugs and a generator this weekend, scoping out jobs for Jason, rejoicing in a successful Web project, buying Gavin an amber anklet for his teeth (sounds like another post, huh?) and having success with Natalie’s new good behavior sticker chart.
We’re picking up.
And it feels good.
1 comment:
I'm sorry to hear about Jason's job! That is really tough, but you are right--you will get through it. The good news is that you have some time to act on the news. And the rest....I can really relate. Hang in there, mama, you are doing great!
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