feeling thankful

This afternoon, Doug called and said that it had been a very rough day.  Carol, Alan and Jill were here at the moment and they got instantly quiet, just by the tone of my reaction.  Doug, then, went on to tell me that there had been a major layoff today at work.  I took a deep breath and waited for the details.  Thankfully, his first words were that, so far, he is okay!  A deep sigh of relief!  He told me that it been a tearful and emotional day, as many employees were approached and told to take a walk to the HR office.  They returned in tears, gathered their belongings and then left.  Doug is so friendly to everyone at work.  Lots of his co-workers call him "Smilin' Doug" because he really is a happy guy who just loves people.  Because of his friendliness, Doug has made many friends at work and his heart was aching for those who said goodbye.  I could hear the hurt in his voice. 

I asked a few more questions and he went on to tell me that there was a meeting in the later afternoon.  He went into the meeting, looking around for specific people, sad to see some missing and relieved to see others still there.  He continued to share more news with me.

 For the past five years, Doug has worked this insane shift, where he has gone to bed at 8PM, gotten up at 3:53 in the morning to leave for work at 4:30 and returned home at 5:45 every Monday Tuesday and Wednesday one week, then Monday through Thursday the next week.  It's been a long few years of nights where social life ends at 8, where the house has to be silent after 8, where I've tiptoed into bed trying not to wake him at my latenight hours, where Doug has not been there for most scripture study, many family prayers and rarely a morning prayer ever.  It's also been hard on me in the mornings, where I've lost a lot of early morning sleep, as his alarm goes off at 3:53, his blender and the shower and shaver until 4:30, then a kiss goodbye that usually wakes me up enough that it takes me an hour to go back to sleep just before the kids' alarms start going off.  Our sleep patterns have suffered immensely, but we have always been thankful for his job, so we learned to roll with it! 

I digress... he went on to tell me that the company is now completely shutting down the weekend shifts and going back to three shifts.  Doug will now work from 6:45 - 3:15 Monday through Friday!!!  I was sooooooo excited!  Since his new calling to the YSA Ward, our biggest concern has been his sleep.  They begin activities at 7PM and most last until much later.  Bishop Skeen has told Doug that he can leave when he needs to, but Doug wants to give his all.  So, we've been concerned about it.  This new shift will allow him participate in all of the activities, to stay until the end and to be there for clean-up and locking up!  AND we can go to bed at the same time for the first time in five years!



So!  We felt that we were double blessed today!  A!)  He still has a job!  B!)  He is back on a more normal schedule, can do his calling more fully and we can sleep again!!!  HAPPINESS!!!!  Again, we are heartbroken for those who lost their jobs today.  There were to be more layoffs tonight and this weekend.  Doug's off until Tuesday.  As happy as he was for us, he was, I believe, more sad for his co-workers who had to go home with no jobs tonight.  For them, it will not be a fun holiday weekend.

Life is good...even on the most challenging days!  We are blessed!