Getting Used to This "Day Off" Thing

For almost 13 years I worked at LEAST six days a week. For the first seven years I was at Longhorn I worked seven days a week. Monday through Friday at the elementary school my younger two attended and Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Longhorn.

Having this new job is like getting a reprieve on my life expectancy.

I still work six shifts a week but have two entire days off to myself. I can work in the yards, go places with my kids or do absolutely nothing.

Work was slow tonight and I got off right after 9:30.I didn't break the bank tonight but working in such a refreshing atmosphere sometimes makes me feel like I should be paying THEM.

The owners are nice to me, the cooks are nice...dishwashers, ditto. Every one from the front of the house to the back of the house is a pleasure to work with and I am finally feeling like I fit in.

Being in debt for a year will take some time to recover from, but at least I am recovering in a friendly environment and actually LIKE going into work.

The customers are even nicer. I know that sounds crazy but it's true. It's a different clientele we have (a MUCH better one) and the pace is slower and more of a dining experience than a "Dinner."

I have learned more about wines than I ever thought I would and learn something new every shift...even if it is just a good joke!

Why I didn't leave the big corporation thing years ago seems stupid to me now. I don't mean to say it is all roses at the new place. Sometimes tensions run high, it gets busy and nerves are on edge but in the end we are a team. The other place was more like a competition..."let's see who gets to keep their job today."

At my old job I worked with so many lazy people that I spent half my time doing other people's work just so things would run a little bit smoother. Now I am in a place where I can focus on MY job and know that others are doing the same. At my old job managers were so busy that they never noticed the lazy people but just expected the hard workers to make it all happen. At my new job, my managers are the owners and see EVERYTHING , EVERYBODY and will call you out in a New York minute if you aren't pulling your weight. That's the main reason it all runs so smoothly. They aren't worried about crunching the numbers or getting people off the time clock...they are worried about the guests and making every attempt to do what ever it takes to give every guest the ultimate dining experience.

As far as my home life...actually haven't had anything wacky happen in a day or two (I must be due.)

Tim and I are going to Consumer Credit Counseling to try and get some bills paid off. When the axe fell, we hung onto the house and the utilities but didn't even consider paying credit cards first. Now the interest rates have sky rocketed and even though we haven't charged anything in over a year it is out of control.

After a while you get used to when to pick up the phone and when NOT to. Even the kids will say "It's Florence, Kentucky...don't pick up!" That would be Capitol One.

DFS Is Dell Financial services. We bought Massey a lap top for Christmas two years ago and were paying it off nicely ...when the axe fell. Be realistic...am I going to make my mortgage or pay Dell? Now I owe them enough that I should have a lap top in every room in the house.

"It's DFS, Don't pick up!"

Heck, I've even gotten to where I will say "It's Children's Miracle Network...Don't pick up!"

Not that I don't want to help them but afraid I would end up asking them to add my kid's names to THEIR list!

I am not a person that squanders money away...but a person that knows her limitations and priorities. Number one...keep a roof over our heads. Number two...try to have lights and water in the roof over our heads. Number three...food on the table. Number four...pay my debts off as soon as I reasonably can.

For months Tim had no income. Now we both have decent jobs that both have bright futures. Before you know it, we'll be answering the phone again!

With the help of family, friends and even strangers we have been able to keep our house, had food to eat and been given breathing room. I owe so many people thanks and have tried to pay it forward as much as I can at this point in time. Lucky for us we only have two credit cards to pay off and many friends that have helped us out financially and personally. I feel my personal debt is quite bigger than my credit card debt...and since these people obviously love me, maybe they won't jack up my interest rate!

Thanks to my friends and family...I am in a good place now. Thanks to our new jobs we have the means to start digging out.

Having all of this happen to us used to be a weight on my already bony shoulders. Now I feel the sweet breeze of friendship and can smell the promise of a much brighter tomorrow. There are so many guard moms that have taken Massey under their wing and made sure she never felt like an outsider. Not only that, they put groceries in my kitchen when I couldn't...brought my girl home from competitions or practice when I was at work or just let her stay the night at their house.

Friendship is an amazing and wonderful gift ... one that I cherish and never take lightly.

I am a fifty year old woman who has learned more about life and friendship in the past year than I have the entire half century I have been alive.

God is good...family and friends are a close second.

Tomorrow is Massey's final chorus concert (for the year.) A day off for me...one to spend the day in the yard and the night with my girl. Thursday is my next day off...Massey's band banquet is THAT night. Last year was the first band banquet I attended and was blown away. The program she is in (color guard) is part of the amazing band program at East Coweta. The banquet is an eye opening experience. A great band director who genuinely loves these kids and it shows. The kids are amazing. They are an eclectic group within themselves...jocks, nerds, fat, skinny, popular, unpopular, even some in wheel chairs...but all have a common bond. They are a team...they are ECHS Marching Indians and if you ask me, they are one heckuva Tribe.

So life has thrown me some curves.

I have also been thrown many life lines and have grabbed onto them for dear life.

Thank you family, thank you friends and thank you strangers. The help was MUCH needed and will remain one of the things I will ALWAYS be grateful for...people loving me and people loving my kids.

I am a lucky woman. I am a woman who saw nothing but despair at one point...and like a beacon...you all showed me the way.

Hugs from the heart...COTTON