The Good and The Bad (but mostly the bad)

I know, it's a negative title. Sorry, but really it has been a mostly rotten week. I'll start with the smallest of the bad-

Here it is Spring Break, and do you know what we woke up to this morning? SNOW! Totally disgusting. It's all gone now, but still...

This is the biggest of the bad. On Tuesday there was a HORRIBLE accident near McMinnville involving one car, 7 passengers, and a tree. 5 people died, including 2 little girls from Newby, the school that I work at. One was a kindergartener (not in my class) and one was in 2nd grade. Newby is truly a small neighborhood school, so this hits us hard. Besides the fact that it's heartbreaking to lose 2 precious girls (and 3 others), it's MADDENING because the accident was so reckless! 7 people in one Toyota Camry, almost no one wearing seat belts (there was a baby in a car seat, but not even he was restrained properly), and going close to 100 mph!!! 3 innocent kids died, the baby survived, but his mom, the driver, did not. The mom of the 2 little girls died, too. Ggrr. For all of those of you who pray, please pray for these 3 shattered families...

After that, one almost feels guilt for feeling bad about the other, far less tragic aspects of this week. But here's what we'll call the 'medium bad'. First of all, for those of you who don't know, earlier in the month Dave's company (Premier Home Builders) was forced to cut back its operating hours; thus, everyone's work hours were reduced. Which, in turn, amounts to about a 1/4 redution in salary. Eek. So we've just been having to go on day by day with an uncomfortable uneasiness in our stomachs, not knowing if or when Premier will need to close up shop altogether. We thought that perhaps yesterday was the day. But, turns out that almost everyone else was laid off, not Dave. Ironically, it's like everything with his job has come full circle. 8 or 9 nine years ago when Dave started, it was just him and another guy (plus the owners). Now, in a sad twist of fate, it's back to just him and the other guy. While we're thankful that Dave still has his job (for now, anyway) it's still a tough position to be in. These other people that lost their jobs are some of our best friends, and we feel terribly sad for them. And it's sad just because all of them really, truly liked their jobs and loved working together. It's hard to believe that what they had over the past several years is gone. done. over. And then there's the fact that we feel bad because Dave is still employed while others are not. Whoa, slow down...I know, I know, you're all ready to give me your advice about how we shouldn't feel guilty, and it's not our fault, and our friends wouldn't want us to feel bad...yada, yada, yada. But I also know and would bet that all of you can think of a time and/or a situation that put you in the exact same kind of uncomfortable spot! I've come to the conclusion that for anyone who has a heart, the feelings of guilt are normal.

Okay, so what's the 'good', you ask? One could still view it as a little bit bad (especially Dave), but after this kind of week, we'll chalk it up to 'good'-

So we've had Dave's beloved Nissan Titan listed on 'craigslist' for a little over a week. Poor Dave, he really does love that truck, but the gas bill KILLS us! It killed us even before our income was reduced. So we decided that the best plan would be to sell it (sniff, sniff) and buy something a little cheaper, a little smaller, and with better gas mileage. Well we've only gotten one call on the darn thing, but fortunately (this is the 'good') the guy, who is from Canada, is so certain that he wants it that he's flying down from Canada today and paying cash for it, sight unseen! So hopefully that will all pan out in the next hour or 2, and Dave's spirits will be lifted this weekend when he gets to enjoy the ecstasy (I say agony) of truck shopping once again!

Okay, there you have it. I know that ultimately there will be some kind of good plan that will emerge because of all of this, but right now it's just darn exhausting! For next year's Spring Break, God, I'd like the kind that involves a white sandy beach, lots of sun, and zero heartache! (just thought I'd place my order now)