The calm after the storm

I can't believe the end of May is upon us - is it really 2009 already? Tomorrow marks the start of June, the month in which I will turn 33!

Last night we had some serious storms blow through, with tornadoes touching down and large hail surrounding our area. While we had very heavy rain and lots of lightening and thunder, we had no damage, what a blessing! With the grass already starting to turn brown, we really needed the rain, though maybe next time a nice gentle spring rain would work just as well? Today is a beautiful and much cooler day - absolutely delightful.

I mentioned two weeks ago that I would talk more about my terrible week at work, and I've been putting it off...partly because life is getting in the way, but also maybe because it just doesn't seem real. Not quite two weeks ago, everyone in our engineering center was called into a meeting and we were abruptly told that our company was exiting our product line...all facilities directly supporting our product, except those they think they can sell are to be closed and they are targeting the end of this year. No one will be transferred, layoffs start in two months.

I know this has been happening everywhere, and especially in automotive. I've worked at my company now for almost 10 years, but many of my coworkers are close to retirement and have never worked anywhere else. We are personally well situated with our savings, and I had been wanting to go at least part time for awhile now, but many of my coworkers are single income or worked together and will both be losing their jobs at the same time. Our area is already super saturated with qualified job seekers... There are so many personal stories of friends I work with that make me tear up (darn these pregnancy hormones!) and beyond that I'm sad for what appears to be the end of a rich history of automotive innovation.

But this is supposed to be my weekly gratitude post, right? So let's get back to the grateful part. Here are some entries for the past week:

*We had planned for me to take unpaid time off after baby is due, and our savings is well stocked for my layoff*

*I've had the opportunity to work with some fantastic friends over the past years, and I'm sure that I'll keep in touch with several of them. I hope to be working with a few in our future endeavors*

*Sweet toddler antics and an eager smile help me forget my worries each night when I get home*

*The end of a near month long marathon of crazy work hours for EmDee, welcome back, we missed you!*

*Homemade popsicles on the back porch swing (which ironically isn't on the back porch, it's part of the swingset)*

*Planning the fun summer activity list always gets me excited for the months to come*

What are you grateful for this week?