- Joined
- May 9, 2002
- Messages
- 12,629
My good friends,
I'm not one to ask for smoke very often. It's not that I don't believe it works, as I have seen SO many times here in the Cantina where even the lightest wind of good will has seemingly averted disaster or relieved pain. I simply feel guilty for asking people to expend energy on situations where my rational mind "knows" there is a calculated solution buried in all that mess. Not that I feel that I can fix things better than the Fates and other Knowers of the Great Beyond, I just firmly believe in causal properties and sleeping in the bed one makes for himself.
That said, would it be too much to trouble y'all for a small bit of smoke and prayers to ease my poor wife's nerves? She is going through a really tough time with work at the present. She works in the school system with a "safe" job that is never in danger of being cut. However, new contract procedures, deals potentially struck, and a less than lackluster compensation tier have put us in a bit of financial strain. I need to reiterate this, we are NOT in dire need. We are simply very middle class with a comfort level of status slipping with each fixed salary paycheck while we watch gas go up, food go up, day care costs go up, etc...but isn't that way of the world these days
Compounding this, my wife still has a pretty hefty amount of student loans that we are paying off slowly and has been somewhat on the fence about joining the teacher's union. Let me qualify, I don't think that the union is a BAD thing. I just feel that the hefty monthly dues do not justify the potential gains for her as I can quite literally buy a $1,000,000 life insurance policy with what we must pay on a monthly basis. However, the world being the world that it is, it does give her a very cushy level of legal protection should there be the need as working with children in the public education sector always brings those sort of pitfalls...still, lotta out of pocket for the risk.
So work is busier that it ever has been for her due to new regulations with shrinking time tables, pay has gone from the typical government structure of "stick with your job and they will give you a raise" to something more merit based (which good except it means that you dinged for things out of your control if someone else doesn't do THEIR job), and she's exhausted. On top of all that, we recently found out that her brother's marriage has not so much hit a rough spot as much as has run aground on an iceberg. My brother in law is a very sweet man who does very irrational things at times. I love him to death, but my wife and I are very worried that he might do something stupid. He's a passionate guy who is prone to passionate action, and this concerns us greatly.
If it's not too much trouble to ask, could you all send some positive thoughts and smoke to our household for my lovely wife and her family? She's at her breaking point right now between her job, our finances, a 2 year old toddler running around, and a husband that works 7 days a week right now. Piling on this situation with her brother may push her over the edge a bit. She's a great woman and puts up with me beautifully. I hate to see her feel so at the end of her rope. I am doing my best to be supportive and helpful around the house, but I feel I simply do not have the available time to be of sufficient assistance, and it is stressing me out as well. Truth be told, we got into a fairly lengthy and meaty squabble last night about all of this where my supposed lack of effort at putting on the bed's sheets was the catalyst In short, we're on edge a bit.
Now, I earnestly try to see the universe as something that is balanced and good. It can't rain on every parade
So, it is my absolute joy to announce that I am an honorary Uncle/God Father again My best buddy/brother-from-another-mother and his wife have just given birth to his second child, a happy and healthy beautiful baby boy I'm hoping that little Nicholas is the same harbinger of good will that his older sister was 3.5 years ago. When Lily was born it was literally within hours of my wife's father passing. It was a powerful Circle of Life moment for us and very uplifting to know that two lives going in two different directions basically high-fived on the way in and out of this world.
I'm absolutely elated for my friend and his growing family. They live out of state, so it'll be a few months before I can hold the little guy, but I'm excited to get to meet him soon. On a funny side note, my friend's father used to always joke that he must have been the milk man's baby as he is the only one in his family with red hair. Seriously, the ONLY one. No one on either side can remember a Ginger relative before my buddy was born. Well, he's not going to have that sort of ammunition to rib his son about since Nicholas was born with a head full of bright red hair
:thumbup:
So if y'all have a little extra smoke left over, I sure would appreciate it if you could send it up for the continued health of my beloved new Nephew
Thanks so much, guys and gals. I really appreciate it and am humbled by your kindness.
I'm not one to ask for smoke very often. It's not that I don't believe it works, as I have seen SO many times here in the Cantina where even the lightest wind of good will has seemingly averted disaster or relieved pain. I simply feel guilty for asking people to expend energy on situations where my rational mind "knows" there is a calculated solution buried in all that mess. Not that I feel that I can fix things better than the Fates and other Knowers of the Great Beyond, I just firmly believe in causal properties and sleeping in the bed one makes for himself.
That said, would it be too much to trouble y'all for a small bit of smoke and prayers to ease my poor wife's nerves? She is going through a really tough time with work at the present. She works in the school system with a "safe" job that is never in danger of being cut. However, new contract procedures, deals potentially struck, and a less than lackluster compensation tier have put us in a bit of financial strain. I need to reiterate this, we are NOT in dire need. We are simply very middle class with a comfort level of status slipping with each fixed salary paycheck while we watch gas go up, food go up, day care costs go up, etc...but isn't that way of the world these days
Compounding this, my wife still has a pretty hefty amount of student loans that we are paying off slowly and has been somewhat on the fence about joining the teacher's union. Let me qualify, I don't think that the union is a BAD thing. I just feel that the hefty monthly dues do not justify the potential gains for her as I can quite literally buy a $1,000,000 life insurance policy with what we must pay on a monthly basis. However, the world being the world that it is, it does give her a very cushy level of legal protection should there be the need as working with children in the public education sector always brings those sort of pitfalls...still, lotta out of pocket for the risk.So work is busier that it ever has been for her due to new regulations with shrinking time tables, pay has gone from the typical government structure of "stick with your job and they will give you a raise" to something more merit based (which good except it means that you dinged for things out of your control if someone else doesn't do THEIR job), and she's exhausted. On top of all that, we recently found out that her brother's marriage has not so much hit a rough spot as much as has run aground on an iceberg. My brother in law is a very sweet man who does very irrational things at times. I love him to death, but my wife and I are very worried that he might do something stupid. He's a passionate guy who is prone to passionate action, and this concerns us greatly.
If it's not too much trouble to ask, could you all send some positive thoughts and smoke to our household for my lovely wife and her family? She's at her breaking point right now between her job, our finances, a 2 year old toddler running around, and a husband that works 7 days a week right now. Piling on this situation with her brother may push her over the edge a bit. She's a great woman and puts up with me beautifully. I hate to see her feel so at the end of her rope. I am doing my best to be supportive and helpful around the house, but I feel I simply do not have the available time to be of sufficient assistance, and it is stressing me out as well. Truth be told, we got into a fairly lengthy and meaty squabble last night about all of this where my supposed lack of effort at putting on the bed's sheets was the catalyst
In short, we're on edge a bit.Now, I earnestly try to see the universe as something that is balanced and good. It can't rain on every parade
So, it is my absolute joy to announce that I am an honorary Uncle/God Father again My best buddy/brother-from-another-mother and his wife have just given birth to his second child, a happy and healthy beautiful baby boy I'm hoping that little Nicholas is the same harbinger of good will that his older sister was 3.5 years ago. When Lily was born it was literally within hours of my wife's father passing. It was a powerful Circle of Life moment for us and very uplifting to know that two lives going in two different directions basically high-fived on the way in and out of this world. I'm absolutely elated for my friend and his growing family. They live out of state, so it'll be a few months before I can hold the little guy, but I'm excited to get to meet him soon. On a funny side note, my friend's father used to always joke that he must have been the milk man's baby as he is the only one in his family with red hair. Seriously, the ONLY one. No one on either side can remember a Ginger relative before my buddy was born. Well, he's not going to have that sort of ammunition to rib his son about since Nicholas was born with a head full of bright red hair
:thumbup:So if y'all have a little extra smoke left over, I sure would appreciate it if you could send it up for the continued health of my beloved new Nephew
Thanks so much, guys and gals. I really appreciate it and am humbled by your kindness.
