I have been absent the last two weeks…

Generally when that happens something bad is going on…. I am pleased to say in this instance that is not the case.

After a 5 year struggle with managing several lives while taking on what most people would consider far too much for a healthy person, my partner has finally found meaningful employment close to our home rather than having to commute to Brisbane (for all the non-Aussies out there, Brisbane is the capital city of our state Qld.  We live on the Gold Coast which is about 100km south of Brisbane and amounts to about 1 hour and 20 minutes traveling time each way).  This is good for several reasons… probably first and foremost, we get to have our relationship back… He will no longer be worn and angry from the train trip home and I can stop being worn and angry because I am carrying the load at home while working my two jobs.  I mean… it was never going to break us up…. but I feel like the days were tearing me apart, I can only imagine what he was feeling.  It’s also a relief to know that help (when I get sick) is only 30 minutes away rather than 2 hours…. I think sometimes the worst part about being so sick – is when you have no one there with you… I always feel… I don’t know… safer (?) when there is someone in the house with me… even if it is just the cat.  Finally there is the financial saving – $4.5k will be going back into our pockets (well, into our mortgage) every year… and yes, this is the first sigh of relief I have breathed in 18 months.  The train was amounting to $165 a fortnight and it was taking him to a place he hated.

Today was the first day at the new job – and while he isn’t as happy as I hoped he would be… he was still sitting on the couch when I got home.  I think he has a massive case of brain strain.  This is the first time he has worked for a small company so I don’t think he was ready for the expectation that he would simply “do everything” in a timely manner.  Meanwhile, I have been living with this for 8 years… at which point I am well and truly over it.  I have simply stopped doing things… what I can’t get done, doesn’t get done… Eventually they will hire someone to pick up the slack or I will leave and they will have no one.  Either way, I am not breaking myself in two for a company that isn’t remunerating me correctly.  Its only taken me till the age of (almost) 29 to figure that out… I never said I was a fast learner.  Anyway, back to Stocker, yes,  not used to small business mentality…. I think it was a bit of a shock to the system… but in 4 weeks he will be integrated into the system and join the ranks of the overworked and underpaid (and under appreciated)… just like the rest of us who work for small companies.  It will be quite the experience for him.  I have always said I would like to work for a big company… one where there was a large marketing team… where people helped you… and missing a deadline was impossible… many hands make light work and all that jazz.  I suppose though… I would encounter the same problem as him in that situation.  Work culture shock.

I have a big thank you to make to the staff at my current place of employment…. you see, in our desperation (and we were desperate to apply for a job there given I have insight into what goes on) Stocker applied for a position there… and in their haste, they rejected him because I worked there.  They missed out on one of the best employees the would have ever had and he gained the opportunity to become a manager…. all’s well that ends well… I guess this experience reignites my belief in fate….

We have had a few good things happen to us lately.  I won a journal from a magazine I read frequently, Stocker got the job and today I got my hair cut for nothing by one of the trainees at my hairdresser and its awesome!  Okay – so I know the job stands out there as the big win but… you have to count the little stuff too.  I think its in our nature to keep watching our backs so that we can see life sneaking up on us to sink the knife in…. but the reality is… we have done our time (boy, have we) and we deserve this break.  We have worked hard (SO hard) and this is the fruition of our hard work… there is no catch… this is it… hard work paying off.

Anyway – its totally late… so I am going to finish off by posting a photo of our new lawn (which Stocker was able to lay on the week of he enjoyed before starting the new job) and birthday wishes to a close friend Nicole.  We hope you had a wonderful day and an unforgettable 2nd 30th.