My grandfather (well, grandfathers) was in the military, though I imagine most men were in those days... it being the heart of WW2 and all. But Grampa W was in the Navy and my mom has always had a heart for Navy guys (I know she didn't marry one, but she likes them nonetheless). (The Other Grandfather was in the Army.)
My favorite Uncle was in the US Air Force.
My dad served in the National Guard during Vietnam. (His way of being able to remain stateside and continue helping out my Grandma Lelah.)
My cousin was in the USMC and did a tour in Iraq.
My college roommates' (now) husband is currently serving in the USMC and has been in service for 12 years. He's career military. He has been blessed by being given jobs that require him to remain stateside throughout his career, but he loves it. Before we all started having kids, I used to go up for a long weekend to stay with them at Cherry Point MAS for a long weekend every summer. I had a blast.
Two of my 3 step-brothers are currently serving overseas in branches of the military (one in the Army, one in the Navy). Despite the fact that their dad (my step-dad) is the MOST flaming liberal I know personally, even he is completely supportive of them and their choices to serve our country through their military service.
I've always had a healthy respect for the military and those who serve our country. I like that quote by Demi Moore in A Few Good Men when Kevin Pollack asks her why she likes "them" so much. "Because they stand upon a wall and say, "Nothing's going to hurt you tonight, not on my watch."
Thanks to all the military personnel out there tonight and every night. Thanks for serving our country and keeping us safe. Thank you to those who lost their lives in that pursuit. And thank you to the families of those who lost their lives for our freedom.
Happy Memorial Day!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
7 Quick Takes: The End of an Era
1. Today is/was my last day working at my dad's store. "My" location is closing tomorrow.
2. Twenty-two years ago, I was 8 years old and my best friend, Katie, and I hung out eating Taco Bell (as always) in the coin laundry next door, which my parents bought in conjunction with the dry cleaners. (We subsequently sold the coin laundry a couple years later and bricked up the windows and doors so that the two properties were officially separated. But in the meantime, it was a good place for a little kid or two to hang out and be out of the way, but still in view of the parents!)
3. By the time I was 9 and tall enough to reach the rails, I was allowed to occasionally work with my mom and earn a little money.
4. One summer, Katie and I dressed up in southern belle ball gowns several mornings a week (early in the day - it was HOT in those dresses, especially in the Florida summer heat!) and held a sign advertising the store and waved at the passing cars. We made $2 an hour.
5. By the time I was 12, I had regular hours there - working some Friday nights or Saturday afternoons. Katie usually worked the other shift.
6. It was where my sister and I really, truly became friends. It was also where I fell in love with my nephew when she started working part-time and bringing him with her. She was the first of us to bring the baby to work (followed by my friend Kris and eventually myself). We all had silly dreams of the kids growing up to have their first jobs there when they were old enough.
7. There are a bunch of my friends (old and current) who have had jobs there over the years, including the girls I mentioned above (Katie, Kris, and my sister), my husband, my first boyfriend, my friends Cara, Tammy, Lindsey, Nerissa, Margie, David W, Candice, and I'm probably forgetting some of them, but that's all I've got in memory right now. It holds a huge chunk of my childhood memories, my personal history, and a lot of hours of my time for the last 22 years. I will miss it and I will miss what it represents in my life.
For more Quick Takes, click here.
2. Twenty-two years ago, I was 8 years old and my best friend, Katie, and I hung out eating Taco Bell (as always) in the coin laundry next door, which my parents bought in conjunction with the dry cleaners. (We subsequently sold the coin laundry a couple years later and bricked up the windows and doors so that the two properties were officially separated. But in the meantime, it was a good place for a little kid or two to hang out and be out of the way, but still in view of the parents!)
3. By the time I was 9 and tall enough to reach the rails, I was allowed to occasionally work with my mom and earn a little money.
4. One summer, Katie and I dressed up in southern belle ball gowns several mornings a week (early in the day - it was HOT in those dresses, especially in the Florida summer heat!) and held a sign advertising the store and waved at the passing cars. We made $2 an hour.
5. By the time I was 12, I had regular hours there - working some Friday nights or Saturday afternoons. Katie usually worked the other shift.
6. It was where my sister and I really, truly became friends. It was also where I fell in love with my nephew when she started working part-time and bringing him with her. She was the first of us to bring the baby to work (followed by my friend Kris and eventually myself). We all had silly dreams of the kids growing up to have their first jobs there when they were old enough.
7. There are a bunch of my friends (old and current) who have had jobs there over the years, including the girls I mentioned above (Katie, Kris, and my sister), my husband, my first boyfriend, my friends Cara, Tammy, Lindsey, Nerissa, Margie, David W, Candice, and I'm probably forgetting some of them, but that's all I've got in memory right now. It holds a huge chunk of my childhood memories, my personal history, and a lot of hours of my time for the last 22 years. I will miss it and I will miss what it represents in my life.
For more Quick Takes, click here.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Quiet Disagreement
Have you ever had an argument/fight where voices were never raised, no harsh words were spoken, and yet you still felt completely drained from the conversation? We had a disagreement like that tonight.
My husband has a job where he is miserable. He works a thankless job that he only partially likes that has morphed into something that he really hates to do. (He likes the IT and the tech problem solving, but hates the managerial aspects that have fallen to him over the past 6 months, and that is becoming an increasingly larger part of his day-to-day job.) And yet, he has such a good work ethic, that he can't seem to let it go at the end of the day. This means that he NEVER gets out of the office "on time" and that means that I am always waiting (often impatiently) for him to come home from times ranging from 6:10 PM to sometimes 7PM or occasionally even later. (He SHOULD, in theory arrive home at 6 if he were to leave at the time the office closes.)
My argument is that he always has "one more email" after the end of the day - and those are the days that his boss doesn't corner him at the end of business and force him into a 30-60 minutes status report or some such. (And those he can't even call or text me to inform me he will be late, so I am left wondering what time he will be arriving, etc.)
Now, when it's something he is aware of, he does (often, or should I say most of the time) try and let me know ahead of time and he has never complained the very few times when Fuss just needed to eat and I had dinner ready, so I fed her. He has no problem with me doing what I need to do and eating warmed up food himself. He never complains on the rare occasions when I eat with her instead of waiting for him.
However, I am frustrated by this scenario. I want him to come home, on time, regularly. I want it to be the norm instead of the very rare exception.
And yet, I do "get it." He works hard. He wants to do a good job. And he does. He has so much to do, and never has enough time to do it. Sometimes, he chooses to bring work home, so we can at least be in proximity with one another while he finishes his work. But more often than not, he is stuck at the office, dealing with last minute problems that he just wants to get finished, instead of having to pack it all up and carry it all home. His boss is demanding, and has no care or concept of his having a family at home. (His boss has no children, a string of ex-wives and is currently going through a divorce to a woman who has annoyed him for years, so he has no desire to be home. His boss is also a workaholic in the truest sense of the word.) He has very little recourse for changing the situation, other than to find another job that is more family friendly, which, in this economy...
So there is no solution. We are both left frustrated by the situation, and I feel like I need to vent about it sometimes, but I have no idea what to do about it, truly. I have suggested that he tell the people who are taking his time at the end of the day "it's time to go, we'll discuss this tomorrow," but that doesn't always work, and he absolutely cannot do that with his boss. (His boss doesn't take no for an answer in these situations.)
So neither of us is happy, but we are trying to not make the other feel worse about it.
My husband has a job where he is miserable. He works a thankless job that he only partially likes that has morphed into something that he really hates to do. (He likes the IT and the tech problem solving, but hates the managerial aspects that have fallen to him over the past 6 months, and that is becoming an increasingly larger part of his day-to-day job.) And yet, he has such a good work ethic, that he can't seem to let it go at the end of the day. This means that he NEVER gets out of the office "on time" and that means that I am always waiting (often impatiently) for him to come home from times ranging from 6:10 PM to sometimes 7PM or occasionally even later. (He SHOULD, in theory arrive home at 6 if he were to leave at the time the office closes.)
My argument is that he always has "one more email" after the end of the day - and those are the days that his boss doesn't corner him at the end of business and force him into a 30-60 minutes status report or some such. (And those he can't even call or text me to inform me he will be late, so I am left wondering what time he will be arriving, etc.)
Now, when it's something he is aware of, he does (often, or should I say most of the time) try and let me know ahead of time and he has never complained the very few times when Fuss just needed to eat and I had dinner ready, so I fed her. He has no problem with me doing what I need to do and eating warmed up food himself. He never complains on the rare occasions when I eat with her instead of waiting for him.
However, I am frustrated by this scenario. I want him to come home, on time, regularly. I want it to be the norm instead of the very rare exception.
And yet, I do "get it." He works hard. He wants to do a good job. And he does. He has so much to do, and never has enough time to do it. Sometimes, he chooses to bring work home, so we can at least be in proximity with one another while he finishes his work. But more often than not, he is stuck at the office, dealing with last minute problems that he just wants to get finished, instead of having to pack it all up and carry it all home. His boss is demanding, and has no care or concept of his having a family at home. (His boss has no children, a string of ex-wives and is currently going through a divorce to a woman who has annoyed him for years, so he has no desire to be home. His boss is also a workaholic in the truest sense of the word.) He has very little recourse for changing the situation, other than to find another job that is more family friendly, which, in this economy...
So there is no solution. We are both left frustrated by the situation, and I feel like I need to vent about it sometimes, but I have no idea what to do about it, truly. I have suggested that he tell the people who are taking his time at the end of the day "it's time to go, we'll discuss this tomorrow," but that doesn't always work, and he absolutely cannot do that with his boss. (His boss doesn't take no for an answer in these situations.)
So neither of us is happy, but we are trying to not make the other feel worse about it.
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