I work for a large independent insurance agency, and I handle very large commercial clients who pay anywhere from $50,000 to over $1,000,000 a year for their insurance. My expertise is more risk management than insurance. Technology being what it is, we are very dependent on our computer system. All of our policies are digitized. All of our mail is digitized. We communicate via email probably 90% of the time with our clients. On June 20th, we went "live" on a new computer system. Our world changed. Buttons that meant one thing suddenly meant another. Screens that should have shown us what we were used to looking at suddenly looked entirely different. The workflow is the same, but everything is slowed to a crawl because we are searching for familiarity. Gone is the quiet work area, now filled with, "hey, has anyone found the equipment schedule screen yet?"
On June 21st, one of my closest and dearest friends moved away. Ms. P and I had become as close as sisters. To back up and give you some insight, we moved into this house in 2001. Four months later, Mr. T (not of the A-Team) moved in to his new home next door. Many of the next years were spent building a bond closer than just friendship, so when Ms. P came into Mr. T's life it was only natural that she had to pass the muster of all whom were in close relation to Mr. T. Not only did Ms. P pass muster, she also became a precious friend - so much so that a conversation with Mr. T one afternoon as to where this relationship was going resulted in advice to him of, "either marry her or let her go, because what you are doing is not fair to either of us." Needless to say, six years ago (yesterday) they became man and wife and Ms. P moved in next door and into our hearts. She and I were inseparable - pedicures, shopping, commiserating about our pets, husbands and life. MedicMan and Mr. T were fast buddies as well - anytime we needed help with something mechanical, Mr. T "had one in the garage". It was amazing, from sprinkler heads, to duct tape, to a plastic what-cha-ma-doodle, he had one and even more fascinating, he knew where to find it! We vacationed together - a trip to Charleston, S.C. in February for Valentine's Day resulted in a surprise snow-filled weekend....the first Charleston has seen in many years. Fast forward to May 2011. Mr. T and Ms. P had always dreamed of retiring to the mountains......someday. Mr. T was ready to leave his 25+ years with a local law enforcement agency. In this housing market, houses just don't sell. They decided to list the house and just see what would happen, fully prepared to ride it out for a year or better before they actually got an offer. The sign went in the yard on a Thursday afternoon, they had someone look at it on Sunday, and they had a signed contract with a cash buyer on Monday. Oh.....my.....GOSH! This was absolutely God-delivered, so how could we be upset?! We were joyous and thrilled that they were going to be able to really live their dream. Then moving day happened last week. My two best friends packed their two precious pups and kitties and drove down the road, never to live next door again. There is a new vehicle parked in the driveway one door over, and it makes me sad.
Probably the biggest and most exciting change of the last two weeks is the fact that we now have five living under the roof, instead of just the two of us. Our youngest daughter, whom we'll refer to as Tink, moved back in after completing two terms with the Disney college program. For those not familiar, Disney "hires" kids who are newly graduated from high school to live and work at Disney. While really it's inexpensive slave labor for Disney because these kids work their tails off 40 to 50 hours a week for minimum wage and no benefits, it really is a great learning experience in independence in a semi-controlled environment. They share housing in a gated apartment community with other kids from all over the U.S. They learn time management, money management and how to live with people other than their families. Tink formed some very close friendships while living and working for The Mouse, and when the time came for the program to end, she was faced with having to move home with Mom & Dad again, which was not optimal (in her recently independent opinion) but unavoidable without another means to support herself. Within a month, two of the girls with whom she'd roomed and become close friends with were itching to move back to Florida from Arkansas. The three of them wanted to get an apartment together and continue to work for the theme parks in some capacity, but they needed to be able to save money to do so. We agreed to allow the three of them to live here, and they are all now working for Disney or Universal Studios and saving their money to become independent once more. MedicMan and I - some say we need our heads examined - but we like to believe that we are just doing our parts in parenting in the modern world. It's so hard for these kids to get a start in life with the way the economy is and looks as though will continue to be. We are not well off by any means, but we are blessed that we can help them at least with a roof over their heads and food in their mouths for a couple of months until they can again spread their wings and fly. Yeah, it's a bit noisy around here - three giggly girls not too far out of their teenaged years, stuffed into two bedrooms and sharing a bath - but I can assure you that when they leave it will be all to quiet again in this house. We will enjoy it while we can.
Furniture waiting to move to a new abode
Garage filled to overflowing
Glad I'm not living in this bathroom!
Breakfast and other items for a few extra mouths
Freezer stocked for awhile!
Random Cuteness
So, reflecting back on the last two weeks of learning a new computer system, helping friends begin a new adventure and acquiring two new children on top of one more coming back into the nest, the cooking, the grocery shopping, the arranging of new furniture and storing furniture for the fledglings to take when they leave..........I'd say blogging has been a little on the back burner, but hopefully now I can focus better and it will become the release that I'd hoped it would be!
Live life and laugh often!
Mama Shutta'Bug
