I Remember...

This will probably be a short entry.  I'm supposed to be working out, but today is a special day, being Sept. 11th.  I don't think I'm in any danger of ever forgetting that day.

In fact, I was working out that morning at the time (miraculously I'm still overweight and not getting any thinner.  Hmmm.) when Joe came running into the bedroom and said, "Hey, turn on the TV! Some plane just plowed into the World Trade Center." 

"What an idiot!" I said, assuming it was a private plane, "Hold on, I have to do abs." 

So I finished and went into the living room to do situps and was watching the coverage, thinking a private jet pilot might have made a miscalculation or had a heart attack or something.  Then I looked closer and realized it was a commercial airline.   Then, as we watched, a second plane slammed into the second tower and we knew it was no mistake.

I went on to work (in the same building where I work now), we hooked up a TV in the main lobby and all stood around watching the news trying to figure out what was really happening, marveling at how ironic it was that the date was 911.  One of the office girls who's super (and falsely) religious husband wouldn't let them watch TV wandered in and said, "Hey, what's everybody watching?"

What, indeed.  We still didn't know for sure.  

Most of those people I worked with are gone now, some dead, and some just moved on to other jobs.  We pulled the flatbed tractor trailer into the front part of the building, stood on it that night and held a candlelight vigil for the victims.  It seemed like the whole area was filled with candles and mourners.

Days like this one remind me that no matter what I have to do for work or to survive, I must not forget what keeps my soul alive- family, friends, and creating. 

An update, a year overdue

So, since I haven't been here in a really long time, I'll stop promising that I'm going to get better at updating this, since I never follow through.  But I will brief you on what's been going on. 

I went back to work at the nightmare company that laid me off for 6 months, and in a very short time, I found myself being appointed manager of the branch of the company that I had started with 16 years ago.  Shortly after that, they announced that they would be liquidating the company, something most of us had seen coming for years, but things were so bad for so long, that we were finally pretty surprised when it actually came to pass. 

As soon as it was announced that this company was closing, a feeding frenzy began with other companies trying to hire all of us that were still with this company, presumably because they wanted the customer base that would follow us and maybe wanted some of the seasoned people that had lots of industry insight. 

So, after all the smoke settled, I'm managing the SAME branch, but it's owned by another company, and I am working with the 2 best of the employees I was working with before.  Which is great.  I'm working 50+ hours a week, but what the hay.  They pay me, supply my vehicle and the gas, and pay my entire family's health insurance.   So I won't complain.  We'll see what happens down the road.  I might get laid off again, I might not.  But it's working for now.