Changes . .

Have you heard the news? My husband gave his two weeks notice to his employer on Monday. He has been employed by the same company for 33 years. He is the “senior” there, and knows the most of any of the employees. The company was owned by one man up until 1992, when the owner retired and sold it. Since then it has been bought and sold twice. The employees never knew how good they had it when it was owned by one man, but they soon found out, when everything went down hill after. His wages were cut, and he has never reached the wage he made back then. His position changed over the years, and the last four years have been especially trying for him. The company is like so many corporate companies these days; they do not value their employees, and don’t mind pushing out the loyal employees for new employees that they can pay less. Therefore, they treat their employees shabbily, stomping on their esteem and hoping that they will leave. My husband is obliging them willingly. He decided he’s had enough. He made this decision about 9 months ago, we both talked about it a long time before the decision. He kept the decision mum to his company and co/workers, so they were very surprised. Some of them told him they were envious. Since we made the decision for him to leave the end of May ’06, I have never seen my husband so relaxed and happy. Just knowing there was light at the end of the tunnel, made a big difference in his life and his attitudes. His manager kept saying to him “are you sure you know what you are doing”, he was quite happy to tell him “yes, I do, don’t worry about me”.

We have worked hard to clean up our debt, so that we can live on my salary for awhile, until he finds another job. He will be looking for one more actively in the fall, as he wants to take the “summer off”. He will search for a job that is not like the one he left, one that will value what he brings to the table, and if he can’t find a satisfying job, there are plenty of part time jobs out there. We have our parents to thank for this opportunity, when he first talked about it I really worried, as you can imagine debts that you end up with after raising a family. I did get a small inheritance that helped us to get out of debt, so that we will not have as much to worry about. I know they would have wanted us to pay our bills, rather than use it for something else (though it was tempting). We also will be trusting in The Lord, as Mother and Dad always did, that everything will work out.

I am happy for my husband as he enters a new phase in his life.